PEP PLAYS IT PERFECTLY
MARTIN SAMUEL De Bruyne is spot on as City execute masterplan and take a precious lead
Finally, Manchester City found someone who can take a penalty. Kevin De Bruyne, who else, succeeded where so many have failed for the club this season and delivered a milestone victory for Pep Guardiola and UEFA’s antagonists.
In doing so, he carried out the wishes of those who had travelled from Manchester to Spain for this. ‘F*** UEFA,’ they demanded and City did.
Everyone knows the best way to do that this season is to win this trophy and City are in with more than a puncher’s chance having put down this marker.
They were tactically superior to Real Madrid throughout and Zinedine Zidane’s team fell apart near the end. They lost the lead, conceded a penalty and were lucky not to give away a second spot-kick when Sergio Ramos brought down Gabriel Jesus.
He paid the price for that clip inches outside the area, though, with a red card.
another huge blow for the second leg when they will be chasing in front of a raucous crowd. The captain is a huge loss.
The atmosphere when these teams meet again will be charged to say the least. you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone, as Joni sang, and Manchester City’s fans have decided they did quite like being in the Champions league after all, having been slung out of it.
De Bruyne said afterwards: ‘it’s a very good start. We struggled in the first 15 minutes but you have to go through the storm.
‘Their goal came at a bad moment for us — we were dominating. Our response was brilliant. it was a beautiful goal from Gabriel Jesus.
‘in four years with Pep, he sometimes surprises. Sometimes players aren’t told until the game what we need to do. There were some good and some lesser moments. in a quality game like this, you’ll struggle sometimes. We’re only halfway there.’
it only takes one mistake against a team like Real Madrid and Manchester City made three in the space of seconds, which is why they were chasing the game in the first place.
yet Madrid are hardly infallible, either, and stung by going behind against the run of play, City rallied magnificently.
De Bruyne was the architect as ever. it was his brilliant cross without looking and past two defenders that picked out Jesus to head past Thibaut Courtois, who should have done better.
Madrid were reeling and vulnerable. Raheem Sterling, on as a substitute, went past Dani Carvajal, who brought him down. So many City players have missed from the spot this season that it almost felt like a 50-50.
not with De Bruyne in this form. He sent Courtois the wrong way and City led. Of course, if there is a warning for the second leg it is what can happen with even a moment’s loss of focus.
Rodri was the main culprit for the Madrid goal, giving the ball away in a dangerous area.
But nicolas Otamendi did not help matters and then Kyle Walker missed his opportunity to shut down Vinicius Junior when he broke with the ball.
instead the young man took it past him and squared for isco, quiet until then but now with a lovely sight of goal. He made no mistake, slotting it past Ederson as City despaired. They had done so well to that point.
The argument runs that, since leaving Barcelona and the knowledge he had the stronger team in just about every game he played, Guardiola has developed a tendency to overthink his biggest matches in Europe.
Maverick team selections, a focus on the opposition and how to counter them — it is a side of Guardiola we rarely saw at the nou Camp.
and when the team sheet dropped pre-match here, we thought we were seeing it again.
no Sterling, no Sergio aguero but, most incredibly of all, no Fernandinho in the starting line-up. This was a City team set up to do a specific job, obviously, but why those three did not fit Guardiola’s grand plan, who knows?
Once the game started, the strategy hardly became clearer.
Jesus was not the central striker but deployed wide on the left, frequently covering for Benjamin Mendy and tirelessly, too.
Bernardo Silva was often the furthest forward in a central role, sometimes switching with Riyad Mahrez.
it is well known that Guardiola loves a midfielder, but here he played six of them in front of four defenders, without a bona fide no 9. and for long periods it worked. not simply by creating good counter-attacking chances for Manchester City, but by limiting Real Madrid.
There was over 30 minutes gone before Zidane’s men created a decent goalscoring opportunity — a header from Karim Benzema superbly saved by Ederson.
a minute later, the strategy was subject to an enforced change, sadly. aymeric laporte, who has suffered so unfortunately with injury this season, went down and had to be replaced — by Fernandinho, of all people.
Unable to command a place in his favoured position, he was now a surrogate centre-half.
indeed, while this was pragmatic by Guardiola’s standards, it was City who created the best scoring opportunities of the first half. it was a slow burner, 21 minutes gone
before a chance of note was created, as often happens when two teams known for their attacking prowess clash.
Both are so wary of danger that they smother the game in a defensive blanket. Still, when De Bruyne is playing, it is hard to keep him quiet for long and it was his lovely pass that set up Jesus for the first chance of the match.
He cut inside, saw a game open up and forced a magnificent save from Courtois.
De Bruyne should have done better seven minutes later when Mendy found Mahrez who put the Belgian in, but his shot was wild.
Then, a minute before half time, the best chance of the half. Courtois pawed ineffectually at a corner and the ball ran loose for Jesus to send it back through a crowd of bodies.
In real time it looked to have been cleared off the line but replays showed Ramos had been lucky not to turn it into his own net.
Real Madrid were limited to only three shots in the first half — their poorest return in this competition at the Bernabeu since the visit of Galatasaray at the group stage in November 2013.
REAL MADRID (4-3-3): Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, F Mendy; Modric (Vazquez 84), Casemiro, Valverde; Isco (Jovic 84), Benzema, Vinicius (Bale 75). Subs not used: Areola, Militao, Kroos, Marcelo. Booked: Modric, Valverde. Sent off: Ramos. MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-2): Ederson; Walker, Otamendi, Laporte (Fernadinho 33), B Mendy; Mahrez, Gundogan, Rodri, Jesus; De Bruyne, B Silva (Sterling 73). Subs not used: Bravo, Aguero, Cancelo, D Silva, Foden. Booked: Mendy. Man of the match: Kevin De Bruyne. Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy). Attendance: 75,615.