Real Madrid Take 3-2 Lead Over Man City in UCL

It was a match-up that expected drama, and drama is exactly what was served.

The Champions League Round of 32 first leg ended in a wild 3-2 win for Real Madrid. It is a rematch of the 2023 semifinals and the seventh time the pair have faced each other in the past three years.

Thanks to the new-look Champions League which debuted this season, teams who finished 9-24th (9-16 seeded, 17-24 unseeded) in the table will play against each other in a two-legged qualifying round for placement into the round of 16. Thanks to the hiccups in the table stage from both giants Machester City and Real Madrid, it means they will be playing each other twice in this qualifying round in a bid to reach the knockout stage.

Real Madrid made an impressive start to the match by creating the best chances while having less possession, but it was City’s Erling Haaland who broke the deadlock in the 18th minute thanks to fantastic play from Jack Grealish in the build-up. It’s his first goal against Real Madrid in the fifth time they’ve played against each other. Neither team created much until near the end of the first half when Mbappe was found unmarked in the box, but lifted his shot over the net.

The 2nd half got off to a blistering start as Haaland hit the crossbar 30 seconds after the restart, but Los Blancos equalized 1-1 after Kylian Mbappe miss-kicked a ball that came off his shin but miraculously looped over City keeper Ederson. The Frenchman has now scored 9 goals in his last 8 games in all competitions, finding a rich vein of form despite early-season criticism.

City won a penalty in the 79th minute when Ceballos made a clumsy challenge on Phil Foden on the line of the penalty box. Haaland converted to make it 2-1, but it was former Manchester City player Brahim Diaz who would equalize in the 84th minute. A shot from Vinicius Jr deflected off Ederson and left Diaz to hit it into an open net. He put his hands up in his celebration, refusing to disrespect his former team.

Jude Bellingham broke City’s hearts in the last minute of the game, where Vinicius did well to get past Mateo Kovacic and lobbed the ball over an on-rushing Ederson, allowing Bellingham to collect and score. It is the first time Manchester City has lost a Champions League knockout round tie since 2018.

City now has the task of going to the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, February 19th to save the 3-2 aggregate tie.