REAL MADRID’S LATE SHOW STUNS CITY

KARIM Benzema scored an extra-time penalty as Real Madrid pulled off another astonishing comeback in the Champions League to stun Manchester City 3-1 on Thursday and book a showdown with Liverpool in the final.

City looked certain to go through when Riyad Mahrez put the English side 1-0 up in Madrid and 5-3 ahead on aggregate, but Rodrygo, on as a substitute, scored an incredible late double, his goals in the 90th and 91st minutes sending the tie to extra time.

With City still reeling, Real Madrid landed the knockout blow as Benzema earned and then converted a spot-kick to snatch a 6-5 win on aggregate, with another fightback at the Santiago Bernabeu adding to the club’s long list of magical European nights.

This season, Madrid had already performed the unlikeliest of rescue acts to defeat both Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 and Chelsea in the quarter-finals but, given the stakes and how close it was to defeat, this one against Manchester City was surely the most dramatic.

Like PSG and Chelsea, City will wonder how it ended as losers from a match it largely controlled, and there will be fresh scrutiny on coach Pep Guardiola who, for all his success, goes another year without leading City to the European glory it so craves.