The bad news for Manchester City: Real Madrid are Real Madrid again

The Guardian

12-02-2025

With four minutes to go they were losing 2-1 away to the team their manager admitted they had wanted to avoid; when the final whistle went, they were 3-2 up, the winner scored in the 92nd minute, Jude Bellingham standing there, arms wide before them all. 'This,' Brahim Díaz said, 'is Real Madrid.' And Real Madrid gonna be Real Madrid. Just another night in the European Cup, the never ending story, comebacks as standard. This match had become a clasico, Carlo Ancelotti had said, and it had a classic ending. Seen this one before.
Only, have you? This wasn't the same, not this time: it wasn't the same as all those other seasons, the recurring remontadas, the realm of miracles, and it wasn't the same as what we have been watching for the last six months either. Manchester City and Real Madrid have met in four of the last five years in the Champions League. Each time, the team that got through won the competition. This time, they met in the playoff round, punishment for how bad they had been in the league phase, 11th and 21st in Europe; it was harder to imagine the same outcome this season.
Was. No more, and not just because Real Madrid are inevitable – although that too. Not because they are indestructible, the T1000 hanging off your bumper, although they are. But because on a night in which they fielded a back four that Ancelotti said 'had not just not played together, they hadn't even trained together', they had beaten Manchester City without needing penalties at the Etihad for the first time, at the seventh time of asking. And, while they were all swift to say this tie isn't done yet, they had deserved it, a new beginning.
Madrid arrived in Manchester having struggled against the very best this season – winless against Athletic and Liverpool and in four matches against Atlético Madrid and Barcelona. It might be tempting to say that remains true – are City among the best? Despite a format designed to prevent the big clubs falling, in which you have to do something special to be knocked out, they only just reached this playoff at all and the way victory escaped them was not new, as Brighton, Feyenoord, Brentford and Manchester United can testify. 'This has happened before,' Pep Guardiola said, everything collapsing around him once more.
They too have key players out, including the most decisive of all. There was Balon d'Or winner Rodri taking a photo of that banner dedicated to him … and to Vinícius. They lost three more players to injury during this game alone. Their defending was dreadful, their midfield non-existent, and as for Ederson … After the game, Dani Ceballos said something quite telling: 'In the first 10, 15 minutes there was a bit of fear, but then we saw that they …' They didn't press, Ceballos said, didn't move the ball fast. In short, weren't to be feared.
But still, it was City. It was also this Madrid, the team who conceded nine in two games against Barcelona, that lost in Lille and at Espanyol, and actually still might have had better results than performances this season; over the last seven days a last-minute goal from a youth teamer making his debut saw them sneak through in the cup against Leganés, and Saturday's derby draw against Atlético left many wondering why Diego Simeone's team hadn't taken advantage of a unique opportunity, so clear was their vulnerability. Ancelotti had admitted on the very first night of the season that things didn't feel right, and even as they improved a little, that feeling hadn't been entirely shaken off.
Here it was. This was new. In the last four meetings at the Etihad, City had taken 85 shots, Madrid just 35. Guardiola's side had taken 148 over the eight games. True, Madrid had found a way through – penalties in 2024, that madness in 2022 with goals on 90 and 91 to take them to extra time and an extra life – but it had been almost inexplicable. This was their third 90+ minute winner against City, but it was not the same; this was logic. Madrid were just better. They were the first European team to win at the Etihad, over 90 minutes, since Lyon in 2018 and this time they took 20 shots, more than any visiting team ever has.
Sure, they needed the epic ending. It's Madrid, after all. The way it unfolded, the fact that they had been so close, made it hurt, Guardiola admitted; but he he also admitted that Madrid were the better side, describing this as the best Madrid have played in any of the games against them. Against anyone: this may well have been the most impressive Champions League performance they have produced with Ancelotti. The surprise was that they needed the late goals, Diaz on to provide the breakthrough, Bellingham still bombing forward at the end. If there's one thing they have it's forwards who are lethal. Here, bizarrely, two of their three goals came with mis-hits.
'The game was being unfair,' Ceballos said, and he felt that more than anyone else, sitting there on the bench, head covered in his jacket, having given away the penalty that allowed City to lead. Afterwards, he thanked Diaz, the sub who came on to turn this around, for preventing him for spending 'two months without playing'.
'There was no 'but',' Ancelotti said. To use a line he likes, Madrid had been more 'compact' than at any point this season; they had lined up in a deep 4-4-2 without the ball, opening into something more like their 4-2-1-3 with it. There was something telling in the coach's remarks about not 'going mad pressing'; 'when we did go mad pressing,' he said, 'they created chances.' Madrid created far more. Ederson made twice as many saves as Thibaut Courtois, so often the most overemployed goalkeeper in Europe. Chances were missed, which isn't supposed to happen with this forward line.
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But that's not the issue, Ancelotti has insisted: they will always score goals. The issue is at the other end. 'The two centre backs were spectacular; the very criticised Tchouameni played a spectacular game, Valverde very good, Mendy too, Raul continues to surprise with the maturity he has.' Yet it is not only about them, in fact it is not even about them: it starts at the other end of the pitch and it is, in the end, simple. Simple and easily fixed, and if that is their only problem, they really don't have any problems, or shouldn't have. Strip away the tactics, the analysis, and it's almost laughably basic: run about a bit.
Calidad y compromiso, Ancelotti calls it: quality and commitment. The former is no issue – no one else gets close to having Mbappé, Vinícius, Rodrygo, Bellingham – but the latter has been. The coach has kept on, right from the start. Against Mallorca on the opening night he said they had lacked 'balance', 'attitude' and 'commitment'. Here, at last, they got it. 'If the front four come together, if they run …' Ceballos said. 'We have to continue this way: defend as we did today,' Vinícius said. 'We have been inconsistent, now we it's important we carry on,' Courtois said, 'It's an honour to have these comebacks; sometimes we would prefer to win more comfortably.'
'We had doubts about whether finding balance was possible and we have seen that it is, if there is a good dose of sacrifice,' Ancelotti said. 'They all sacrificed themselves and the quality is unquestionable. Defending isn't an individual thing, it's the group. We had to be a team, be together. It was a little bit surprising: I didn't think the team could have this sacrifice at the moment. This is the path.'
It is a path that opens before them once more, the difficulties getting here left behind now, lessons learned, they hope. Vinícius had looked at that banner, a little extra motivation as if he needed it, and then shown the City fans the 15 on his sleeve. Asked about it afterwards, he replied: 'They know our history and here we are again.' Oh, they do. And, oh, they are.
'Now the season starts for real,' Ancelotti said.