Champions League (2nd Leg- round of 16)
Score- 3 – 1 (3 – 2)
19 February 2025
Stadium- Santiago Bernabeu
First Half Game Analysis (Real Madrid vs. Manchester City)
This is the 2nd leg game for these two teams, and Madrid must win or at least draw to qualify for the next round of the Champions League. City had much harder work to do as they were a goal behind and playing at the home ground of Madrid. Also, the star player, Haaland, of City, was absent because of the injury.
For Madrid, a good news was that Rudiger had returned, and he is the pillar of Madrid’s defense. Asencio, Valverde, and Mendy were in defense, and so it seemed a solid defense for Madrid. Ceballos with Bellingham and Tchouameni in the midfield. Vini, Mbappe, and Rodrygo on the front in attack. Varverde bore the duty of the team captaincy. Madrid had a 4-3-3 formation for this game. Madrid fans were very excited and hoped for better outcomes for their team.
The game started well for Madrid. Asencio threw a long ball meant for Mbappe into the center of City’s half. Mbappe just had one touch shot of the ball, and from about the box line, he lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper as he had moved forward, and the ball rightly dropped into the goal post. The goalkeeper, Edison, could not reach the ball as he had moved too far away from the post. It was a superb decision of Mbappe to drop the ball in that manner, keeping in view the situation of the momentum. Just in 4 minutes of the game, Madrid led the game ahead and consolidated their situation in the game.
In the 14th minute, Vini led an attack from his left side into the box, and his crucial pass was blocked, and Madrid got their first corner ball. Rodrygo’s corner ball was headed by Bellingham. He flicked the ball toward the post, but his ball went out of the box for an out ball.
So far in the game, we could see that Madrid had a bit of a dominant position, unlike in the previous games where City used to dominate and possess the ball most of the time, giving rare chances for the opposition team to make any attacks. The rhythm of the game looked in favor of Madrid so far in the game.
By 15 minutes into the game, ball possession was 53% for Real Madrid and 47% for Manchester City.
In the 19th minute, the Vini and Mbappe combination led to another dangerous attack. Mbappe took a goal shot, but his shot was blocked, and he got another corner ball. The corner could not be utilized as should by the team.
About a minute later, Mbappe’s other goal shot was blocked by a defender, and Madrid earned a corner ball. The corner ball was thrown toward Valverde, who took his distance shot as usual, but his shot too was blocked, and he got another corner ball.
Madrid had been getting corner kicks against City continuously last few minutes of the game exerting pressure against City.
By the 26th minute, Madrid had 5 shot attempts at the post, while City had only just 1 shot.
So far in the game, we rarely saw any attack by City; they did not pose any danger to the defense of Madrid. On the other hand, it is Madrid who was constantly leading the attack in the City post.
Again in the 29th minute, Mbappe led an attack into the post; his shot was well blocked by the keeper as the ball fell straight into the hands of the keeper. So far the game looked like as if Madrid was playing with lower-level teams, as City could not match the game of their host, Madrid.
A superb goal by Mbappe; this was sheer class by Mbappe in the 33rd minute of the game. A beautiful buildup by Vini, Rodrygo, and Mbappe. Once Mbappe received the ball inside the box, he very beautifully dribbled two or three players and took a precise goal shot that was a classic goal by him. The game kind of looked over for City as they lagged behind by two goals to nil by the 33rd minute.
Superb 2nd goal by Mbappe
In the 35th minute, City led an attack into the Madrid box, but Asencio was the player who well denied the attack. Asencio had been superb and a rock-solid defense for Madrid so far in many games. Asencio was following the footsteps of Ramos currently, no doubt.
All first-half play was Madrid dominating the game and leading multiple times in attacks on the City post. City hardly was able to lead an attack into the Madrid box, as they had to work hard defending their own box most of the time. This was the first time that I watched the City team play a defensive game so much, as they used to play more of attacking games. Anyways, lately, the city’s rhythm had gone down, and they were losing games frequently. Sad to see a great team’s game getting depleted so badly in this season.
2nd Half Game Analysis (Real Madrid vs. Manchester City)
The second half started with much enthusiasm and energy by Madrid players as they were ahead by 5/2 in aggregate.
In the 47th minute, in the midfield area, when Vini got the ball and he was trying to take off with the ball, a City player, Nico, pulled his trousers with both his hands so much that he fell down. The scene was really hilarious as Vini was trying to move ahead and the City player was pulling his trousers. Nico got a yellow card for this mishandling, though.
In the 52nd minute, there was a good ball shot into the City box by Rodrygo, but the ball landed in the hands of the keeper. Again a few seconds later, there was a superb cross ball from the right flank by Valverde; three Madrid players were inside the box, but a defender was able to get the ball first and avoid a very dangerous situation for City.
Again in the 57th minute, Valverde threw another superb cross ball, and Mbappe almost got the ball together with the keeper, and the ball went out of the outline. It was a good buildup by Valverde. As Mbappe clashed with the keeper, he seemed to have gotten hurt a bit for the time being.
In the 61st minute, Mbappe showed his magical skill by scoring the 3rd goal of the game and thus scoring a hat trick in the game against City. Mbappe got the ball on the right flank outside the box from Valverde, and he moved inside the box that was full of City players. He moved into the box, dribbled a player, and took his left foot very precise shot toward the far corner of the box, and the ball found its home inside the box. It was a superb and precise goal by Mbappe even after the box was full of City players.
3rd goal scored by Mbappe
Up to the 63rd minute of the game, Real Madrid had a total of 11 shots while City had only 1 shot so far in the game. Out of those 11 shots, 6 were on target for Madrid, and for City, it was nil. That showed the dominant position of Real Madrid in this particular game against Manchester City.
In the 70th minute, Mbappe came into the box with the ball on the right side; Vini moved toward him to assist. Mbappe passed the ball for Vini, defeating a defender. As Vini was about to slot the ball into the box, a defender was able to intervene in his attempt, and thus a good opportunity was spoiled in this manner. It was again a superb buildup by the duo, Mbappe and Vini.
In the 73rd minute, Vini got the ball inside the box from Mbappe, and he took a quick shot through the group of defenders, but his shot flew a way away from the goalpost. Again seconds later he took another good shot at the post, though his shot was on target this time, but the ball was well blocked by the keeper. There had been a constant threat at the City post by Madrid in this game, while Courtois had not much work to do this time against City.
In the 76th minute, there was a powerful long goal shot from the City player into the Madrid post that was well blocked by Courtois. The ball was powerful and solid, a rare, dangerous ball of City in this game.
Mbappe and Ceballos were substituted in the 78th minute by Brahim and Camavinga.
Tchouameni too was substituted by Modric in the 82nd minute. Modric wore the badge of the captain of Madrid team.
In the 85th minute, Rodrygo had a good chance for a goal to score. He was on the left side of the box where he got the pass from Bellingham. He took his weak right-foot shot that was easily grabbed by the keeper. Had he used his left foot with a bit of power, there was a great chance of another goal for the team.
In the 89th minute, City had a free kick for the foul just outside the box of Madrid. The shot was well blocked by the wall, and the danger was avoided. In the second half, City had been able to lead some attacks at the goal area of Madrid, and some shots had been fired in the later minutes of the game.
In the 90th minute, Vini and Valverde were substituted by Endrick and Alaba.
An extra time of 2 minutes was added. In the 91st minute, Camavinga fouled a City player, and City got a free kick a few meters from the box line. The free kick hit the crossbar, and the ball bounced back in the box; a City player, without any interference, slotted the ball into the box. After a review of the goal, the goal was validated for the city. Thus, at the dying minutes of the game, at least, City had been able to score a consolation goal for themselves.
Mbappe was the “Man of the Match” of the game. He is being able to establish himself as one of the glittering players of Real Madrid as all the fans expected of him. He is going to do more and command respect in the coming days, as he has found his place in the team.
Team Performance
As in the previous game, this time too, Real Madrid was able to defeat City with a clear margin. In fact, this time Madrid almost dominated the game against City as we had never seen before in their earlier meeting. All the Madrid players did what they were supposed to do. There had been numerous attacks at the City post; the score could have been much bigger if you look at the game and the number of attacks.
There was a superb understanding among the forwards like Vini, Mbappe, Rodrygo, and Bellingham. Similarly, in defense too, they had been solid and impregnable for City. It was only toward the last 20 minutes or so that City had a couple of attacks into the Madrid box area. Particularly in the first half, City was totally lost and could not find their rhythm at all.
Real Madrid Players
Mbappe was superb, and he was in his top gear in this game. He has found his niche in the team and knows now how to move with this team and certainly will do even better in upcoming games. It was his precision moves and quick decision abilities that paved the way for this victory as we saw that he was able to score 3 goals in this game.
Vini too played very well and created a couple of good chances for scoring goals. He was too big a threat and problem to City defenders. But Vini lacked that precision in scoring goals. His shots are random half of the time. His ball does not find the back of the net even in good and obvious chances. Nevertheless, he has the ability to dig out the ball for his mates and create good opportunities.
In defense, Rüdiger, Asencio and Valverde did their superb work and had no problem in the defense area of Madrid this time. Courtois also did not have to do much work and did saved a couple of shots.
Overall, Real Madrid was superb and maintained a good rhythm in the game throughout the 90-minute game. If they can continue playing at this level, the team will surely win some trophies this season too.
Statististics Real Madrid Manchester City
Ball Possession 47% 53%
Total shots 15 12
Shots on target 8 4
Corners 7 5
Fouls 9 9
Total passes 508 505
Yellow card 1 2