Real Madrid’s Resilience: How They Conquered City’s Suffocating Dominance – Man City vs Real Madrid – Full Analysis

Real Madrid secured its place in the 2023/24 Champions League after tenaciously resisting intense pressure from Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. The match went into extra time, where the Madrilenians won in a penalty shootout.

Andriy Lunin was one of the heroes of this match, saving Real Madrid with several decisive interventions both during the match and in the penalty shootout. The goalkeeper was heavily criticized for the goal conceded in the first leg against Bernardo Silva, but this time he compensated with an extraordinary performance. Thus, the Spanish team will play against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the European competition, which is now without a representative from the Premier League.

Starting Lineups

Carlo Ancelotti’s has only one change in his team, in the defensive line, where Nacho Fernández replaces Aurélien Tchouaméni, suspended after receiving a yellow card in the first leg.

The hosts have two changes from the first leg: the return of Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne, who take their usual places in the defensive line and midfield.

Real Madrid Takes Advantage of City’s Slow Start

The match started slowly, with Manchester City adopting an attacking position and intense pressing. Real Madrid also occupied advanced positions on the pitch, but not as aggressively as City. The Madrilenians chose to occupy space in the opponent’s half, without attacking Ederson.

In terms of pressing, Real Madrid was very effective, adopting a 4-2-4 formation, with Rodrygo, Vinicius, Bellingham and Valverde in the first line of pressing. Vinicius and Bellingham cut off the passing lines available to City’s two pivots and freed up Kroos and Camavinga to mark Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. This defensive configuration was the reason why Manchester City did not have such an effective build-up in the first part of the match.

The start was balanced, with both teams having relatively equal possession. The first chances came from Real Madrid, who sent three shots on target in the first few minutes. The Spaniards played fluid football, and in the 11th minute Camavinga took advantage of the free space in front of the box to send the first shot towards goal. The shot was soft, with the inside of the foot, and did not cause any problems for Ederson.

A minute later, Daniel Carvajal sent a long ball after receiving a pass from Lunin. Jude Bellingham controlled the ball very well and distributed it on the wing to Valverde who had the perfect timing to send it to Vinicius, who was nearly offisde. Vinicius was kept in play by Kyle Walker, who did not keep up with his teammates and failed to clear the cross for Rodrygo. Ederson saved Rodrygo’s first shot, but he was helpless after the deflection came back to Rodrygo.

Manchester City Launches the Assault

After Rodrygo’s goal, Manchester City launched a prolonged assault on the visitors. In this game, we see Haaland positioned exclusively in the zone defended by Nacho, to avoid Rudiger, who neutralized him completely in the first leg. This was also possible because Rudiger covered Tchouaméni’s position in this game. So, we see a significantly improved performance from the Norwegian striker compared to the previous match, where he failed to get a shot on target.

We can also see that on set pieces, Haaland was the only City player who was marked personally by Bellingham (probably because of the similar stature of the two), the rest of Real Madrid’s defense being zonal.

Haaland’s first direct contribution is one where he has a lot of bad luck. During the game, we could see Akanji inverting towards the center of the pitch in the build-up phase. He played an important role in the rotation. Given Real Madrid’s compact shape in midfield, Kevin De Bruyne had to move out to the flank to receive the pass. When Akanji received the ball, Toni Kroos usually dropped back to meet him because Akanji was usually facing his own goal.

When Kroos did not have time to drop back and meet Akanji, he could send passes out to the wing. Given that Ferland Mendy, Real Madrid’s full-back, was occupied with Phil Foden, Akanji could send Kevin De Bruyne through balls on the wing. De Bruyne manages to overtake Kroos and crosses to Haaland, who sends the ball into the crossbar.

Lunin and Rudiger Shine for Real Madrid

The rest of the first half was marked by intense pressure from Manchester City, forcing Real Madrid to barricade themselves in their own box. Even Vinicius and Rodrygo had to drop back defensively, limiting Madrid’s counterattacking options. Manchester City attacked patiently, looking for gaps in the visitors’ defense.

Lunin had an extraordinary performance in goal, managing to save all shots on target. His excellent save from a superb shot by De Bruyne in the 26th minute was a significant turning point. Rudiger was also outstanding in defense, blocking many shots from the Citizens. A defensive masterclass by Rudiger occurred in the 35th minute. Haaland launched Jack Grealish after a successful dribble, but Rudiger caught up with him, positioned himself perfectly to cut off the passing lane to the center, and accelerated in time to pressure Grealish and prevent him from shooting on target.

Real Madrid managed to capitalize on a few counterattack opportunities, but their incursions became increasingly rare throughout the match. These were the only moments in which Real Madrid posed a significant threat to Ederson’s goal.

Possession and Pressure: City Turns Up the Heat

The second half brought no changes from either team, but we could see that Bernardo Silva and Foden switched sides. Manchester City dominated the second half, with an overwhelming 72% possession and no less than 15 shots, compared to only one from Real Madrid. However, the visitors heroically resisted this constant onslaught from the English champions.

The first significant change came in the 71st minute when Jack Grealish was replaced by Jeremy Doku. This change represented a substantial problem for Carvajal, who already had a yellow card from the first half. Jeremy Doku, known for his exceptional technique and energy, had the potential to exhaust Carvajal and overwhelm him. Valverde dropped back more often to help Carvajal defend against Doku’s attacks.

However, Doku managed to get past Carvajal in the 76th minute with a short and explosive sprint in the box. His cross was poorly cleared by Rudiger, and Kevin De Bruyne scored, restoring equality.

Unde a Greșit Manchester City?

Although Manchester City was very aggressive in the second half, we still felt that no one on the team wanted to take responsibility for a shot, even though there were enough opportunities to do so. Kevin de Bruyne had three shots on target, but the rest of City’s players refrained from shooting. Additionally, they relied heavily on crosses, but Rodri and Akanji did not enter the box too often for them.

This was likely because the Citizens’ defensive line was pushed far forward, and Real Madrid is a team that is extraordinarily dangerous and fast on the counterattack. The statistics illustrate very well this story of the siege imposed by Manchester City.

As evidence of this theory that Manchester City was still afraid of Real Madrid’s counterattacks, we have the event at the end of the match, where in the 89th minute, Rodri showed excellent defensive intelligence when Real Madrid regained possession and countered. Rodri committed a tactical foul and received a yellow card.

Extra Time Shows Two Exhausted Teams

The first half of extra time saw Real Madrid trying to press again, similar to the beginning of the match, but fatigue was heavily felt in both camps. Of course, this is entirely expected, considering the intensity of this match. Thus, in the 99th minute, Foden missed a huge chance, failing to convert a volley from a cross.

Real Madrid also had some dangerous moments at Ederson’s goal, all from counterattacks and fast incursions. Here we note Modric’s superb pass to Vinicius on the right flank, but this action is stopped by an extraordinary defensive intervention by Kyle Walker, who outmuscles Vinicius and blocks him on the sideline, protecting the ball.

After this, we see Real Madrid’s offensive resignation, with the substitution of Vinicius for Lucas Vazquez (defender). Ancelotti’s goal for the rest of the match is to avoid conceding another goal and take the match to penalties.

The first half of extra time ends with another huge chance for the visitors, where Rudiger misses a huge chance that came from a cross at the edge of the six-yard box and sends the ball wide of Ederson’s goal. Once again, the misses of both teams seem to be caused by extreme fatigue.

The second half of extra time is more or less resignation by both teams due to fatigue. Anyone can understand the immense physical and mental effort it takes to play in such a match. At the beginning of the second half of extra time, Carvajal gives in physically and is replaced by Eder Militao. It’s fascinating and impressive how well Carvajal held up in this match, especially as he was responsible for marking Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku and managed to cope with them very well.

Conclusions

The game went to penalties, where Lunin saved the shots taken by Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic. Real Madrid thus eliminates one of the favorites to win this season’s Champions League and will face Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.

Manchester City highlighted the suffocating style of play that Pep Guardiola can create, keeping the opposing team constantly under siege and grinding them with overwhelming possession. Real Madrid showed us tremendous fortitude and resilience that brought them victory and paved the way to the semi-finals.