Manchester City crash out of Champions League as Real Madrid punish 10-man hosts
Vinicius Junior scored a late winner for Real Madrid against Manchester City. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.
It is 55 years since Manchester City overturned a first-leg deficit to progress in Europe, so the chances of Pep Guardiola's side pulling off the kind of comeback that is known in Spain as 'La Remontada' were remote once they had conceded three first-half goals at the Bernabeu last week.
City's task went from unlikely to impossible from the moment they had Bernardo Silva sent off for the goal-line handball that saw Vinicius Junior put Real Madrid four goals clear from the penalty spot 22 minutes into the Etihad return.
Silva used his elbow to divert Vinicius' shot wide just moments after the Brazilian had struck the inside of Gianluigi Donnarumma's left-hand post after a lightning counter-attack Madrid that had once again exposed the major defensive weakness of Guardiola's side.
Once VAR checks had confirmed that no Real player had strayed offside, the City skipper was doomed when referee Clement Turpin was advised to take another look on the pitch-side monitor. And so were his team. It was the first red card of the Portuguese midfielder's career.
Vinicius scored again in injury-time, sidefooting home a winner from Aurelien Tchouameni's cross from close-range. In truth, City were by then well and truly beaten.
Erling Haaland's equaliser just before the break at least gave the Etihad fans something to get excited about. But it was scant consolation for a team that has bowed out of Europe's premier club competition at the last-16 stage in successive seasons.
Guardiola was served notice last week that even without Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, the Spaniards are lethal on the break. This is the third season on the bounce since lifting the Champions League that the Blues have perished at the hands of the 15-time kings of Europe.
The Premier League title chasers now have to recover both physically and mentally for the Carabao Cup Final against Arsenal on Sunday.
City paid the price for going to the Spanish capital with a four-man attack. This time, Haaland was used as a spearhead, with Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki supporting from the flanks.
Tijjani Reijnders, Matheus Nunes and Rayan Ait-Nouri were also brought in as Guardiola decided to roll the dice. It could have been 6-6.
The last time City progressed in Europe after losing the first game was in 1971, when they defeated Gornik Zabrze 2-0 at Maine Road in the now-defunct Cup Winners Cup after losing by the same score in Poland. Joe Mercer's side prevailed 3-1 in a replay in neutral Copenhagen.
Fede Valverde, scorer of a first-half hat-trick last week, should have put City to the sword again after just 53 seconds when Vinicius Junior's pass sprung the offside trap to send the Uruguayan through, but his attempt to lob Gianluigi Donnarumma was poor.
Cherki forced an instinctive save from Thibaut Courtois before the Belgian started waging a one-man war with Haaland, denying the City striker three times before the Norwegian brought his side level.
But Vinicius was also in the mood. He might have had a first-half hat-trick himself with more composed finishing, but he certainly milked his celebration after beating Donnarumma from the spot.
Soon afterwards, Guardiola was booked for protesting. The Catalan has picked up six yellow cards in the Premier League this season and was sat in the stand for the draw at West Ham on Saturday for the first game of a two-match suspension.
Madrid's fans were quick with the taunts of 'ole' as their side made City toil. But they were becalmed four minutes before the break when Haaland finally found a route beyond Courtois when Jeremy Doku crossed from the left. It was the Norwegian's 30th goal of the season, but his first in a month.
The visitors were forced to replace Courtois with stand-in keeper Andriy Lunin at the break. The Ukrainian's first contribution was to twice stop Haaland putting City ahead.
Guardiola replaced Ruben Dias with Marc Guehi at the break, with the Portuguese on a booking, while Nathan Ake came on for Tijjani Reijnders. Just before the hour, Matheus Nunes and Haaland made way for Antoine Semenyo and Omar Marmoush.
Abdukodir Khusanov, the Uzbeki defender who was outstanding in both legs, sent a long-range shot skidding wide, but City's 10 men were beginning to show the strain.
Mbappe was summoned from the bench. After Donnarumma had reacted brilliantly to touch over Arda Guler's header, the Frenchman nonchalantly sent a side-footed volley just wide.
Cherki tried to revive the home side with a mazy dribble and a 20-yard shot that fizzed past Lunin's left hand but also the post.
In the last three days, City have lost ground in the title race and been eliminated from Europe. Guardiola has work to do before Wembley.
Donnarumma 7; Nunes 5 (Semenyo 57, 5), Khusanov 8, Dias 5 (Guehi 46, 6), Ait-Nouri 6; Rodri 6 (Gonzalez 74, 5); Cherki 7, Silva 4, Reijnders 6 (Ake 46, 6), Doku 7; Haaland 6 (Marmoush 56, 5).
Courtois 8 (Lunin 46, 7); Alexander-Arnold 6 (Carvajal 80), Rudiger 6, Huijsen 6, Garcia 6; Valverde 7, Pitach 6 (Angel 74, 5), Tchouameni 7, Guler 6 (Camavinga 74, 6); Diaz 6 (Mbappe 69, 6), Vinicius Junior 8.
Clement Turpin
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