City, Madrid serve UCL classic at Bernabeu

THREE GOALS in the first 14 minutes. Backand-forth attacking. Stunning second-half strikes. It was an instant classic between the newest Champions League rivals, with Real Madrid and Manchester City drawing 3-3 in a frantic first leg of the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

“Iimaginethefansenjoyedagamelikethis, with six goals,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “Both teams wanted to attack, doing it in different ways, a bit out of control.” Federico Valverde scored a 79th-minute equalizer for Madrid after City had rallied with Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol scoring goals five minutes apart midway through the second half at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Bernardo Silva had put City ahead two minutes into the match, but Madrid rallied with an own-goal by City defender Rúben Dias in the 12th and a score by forward Rodrygo in the 14th. “We wanted to take at least a small advantage, but in the end we are satisfied because we competed well and gave our best,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. “If we do the same in the return match, we can come away victorious.” The second leg will be next Wednesday in Manchester. It is the third consecutive encounter between the clubs in the knockout stagesofthechampionsleague.madrideliminatedcityinthesemifinalsin2022,whilecity got the best of Madrid at the same stage last year.

The match at the Bernabeu went on as scheduled despite of a possible terror threat bytheislamicstate,withnosecurityincidents being immediately reported. City struck early whensilvasneakedinalowfree-kickshotthat went past the wall and caught Madrid goalkeeperandriyluninoffguardbythenearpost.

Madridequalizedafterashotfromoutside the area by Eduardo Camavinga deflected off Dias to wrong-foot City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.rodrygoputmadridaheadafterbreaking