Real Madrid eliminated Manchester City from the Champions League after penalty shoot-out on Wednesday night. The 2nd meeting of the teams’ quarter-finals finished in a 1:1 draw. Curiously, each of the previous two editions of the tournament saw Real and City clash in the knock-out phase with the winner going all the way to win the competition.
🙌 ¡ESTAMOS EN SEMIFINALES! 🙌
🏁 @ManCityES (3) 1-1 (4) @RealMadrid (Global 4-4)
⚽ 12' @RodrygoGoes
⚽ 76' De Bruyne#UCL pic.twitter.com/oPqc5CoYwg— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) April 17, 2024
At the Etidah Stadium, Los Blancos took the lead in the 12th minute through Rodrygo and from then on Manchester City completely dominated the onfield proceedings. Erling Haaland hit the crossbar with header in the 19th minute but Pep Guordila’s team failed to create other significant chances in front of Andriy Lunin and Real Madrid went for the break 1:0 up. The 2nd period was not too different, with City attacking and Real defending, with Lunin parrying everything thrown at him until the 76th minute, when Kevin De Bruyne was in the right place at the right time to score from close range. The Belgian midfielder had two other glorious chances to put City ahead, but failed to hit the target.
There were no more goals during the regular 90 minutes and the following extra-time and both sides had to settle the outcome of the tie with a penalty shoot-out. Julian Alvarez scored for City while Modric missed for Real as first takers, and then Andriy Lunin turned hero for Los Blacos, saving the following shots from Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic. Bellingham, Lucas Vazquez, Nacho, and Antonio Rudiger were perfect from the spot for Real and the record 14 times Champions League winners qualified for the semi-finals.