MANCHESTER CITY vs REAL MADRID | Champions League Quarterfinal 2nd Leg | 17.04.24 | 21:00 CET

I noticed that too, but I saw it slightly different. I did make a comment about Pep's "pep talk". He did not fire up the players. He spent 5 minutes talking... giving instructions. When they left the huddle, they just walked out. He was not pumping up the team. Meanwhile, Carlos said two words. Everyone got excited.... players were jumping up and down. They were fired up and pumped up. The players also had a few minutes to be themselves alone.

 

Same here. I had a feeling the team could have won it in regulation.

I understand people don't want that deep defending, but then again, no one wants to be nervously biting their nails for 90 mins.

Amazing how the team blanked Grealish and Haaland. They were almost useless in the two games.

 

And we have the second leg at the Bernabeu, if I'm correct.

 

The team did a good job closing down the top of the box this time. The City players didn’t have time to setup a long shot.

 

What I will say is this: the English pundits are always disrespectful to Real Madrid when the opposition is an EPL team. Whether it's Man City, Liverpool or Chelsea.

But I have to give it to Man City's players, manager and fans. They gave all due respect to Real Madrid. It was a well fought contest. Unlike some previous ties vs EPL opponents, I never felt their camp were saying stupid stuff like "time for revenge" or "we're favorites".

 

A massive congratulations to us all and obviously to this amazing team that we support. Hala Madrid!

I'm still out in the South East of Asia on business, but I didn't sleep well all night due to the anxiety! Woke up early this morning to watch the entire match on TNT Sports (thank god for Express VPN), and what a rollercoaster of emotions. I won't lie, there were parts of the match where I simply had to skip forward by a few minutes to ensure that we were still leading and calm my nerves!

To be honest, when it went to penalties, I was quietly confident that we would win, for several reasons. Firstly, City might have the better squad and be better than us from a physical fitness standpoint, but we have always been the mentally stronger team, and our fortitude is second to none in Europe. Since penalties is at least "a 70% mental battle", we had the advantage over City in that part of game.

A few things I'd like to call out, that have only been subtly touched upon already by other posters:

Rudiger: His leadership style and camaraderie is unmatched in the squad. I know we have other leaders like Carvajal, Nacho, Modric and Bellingham, but Rudiger is just "built differently". It's hard to put into words, perhaps someone else is better placed to quantify his uniqueness, my nerves are still jangling!

Mendy: This guy is a beast in the big matches, against the toughest opponents, on the grandest stages. We need to realise where he adds the most value, and where he simply will have drawbacks to his game. He needs to be renewed, and the rest of the squad seems to really get along with him well.

Injuries: City had a full strength team, and were playing at home. Arguably, we were missing our starting GK, two starting CBs and our starting DM. Add to that the fact that both Alaba and Tchouameni are both great at playing out of the press and progressing with the ball up-field, we had the cards massively stacked against us in our favour.

 

I know some people didn’t like how deep we sat, but for me this was a tactical work of art from Carlo. The players worked very effectively as a unit and seemed to have a very good idea of where to be, who would close down which players and follow which runs, etc. The chances City created and the goal they scored typically came from individual rather than systemic failures. In general, when we were in our shape, City had the ball and ran the tempo but we were really managing the game.

The main criticism has to be our failure to break their press more often but there’s a reason it’s so difficult. And ironically I think the game probably would not have looked as lopsided in terms of possession and chance creation had we not scored so early.

I’ve said it before, for me Carlo and the squad have had an incredible season. They’ve greatly over performed IMO.

Our best midfielder (hell maybe our best player), who I think normally could’ve helped us break City’s press a lot more effectively, has been basically running on fumes because he’s spent much the season effectively being asked to play two positions at once. Literally 25% of our assumed XI with ACL tears. No starting quality CF in the squad. Youth in key positions. And here we are, in position to seriously compete for the double. It’s absurd!

 

Yup noticed that during the game, Pep is such an odd guy. They also showed Kepa speaking to Lunin giving him instructions (or motivation) which was a cool moment.

 

Lol at Vini after Lucas’ pen. He knows what Lord has under those shorts.

 

Another of those "football lost today" spawns that Pep fills his midfield with. Great player though, crazy agility and turns on such a big guy.

We played excellently the first halves of both games. You don't get a shot against City just bunkering, people forget we scored 4 times in this tie and led for the majority of it, while City led for only like 15 min across both legs. We seemed a bit comfortable too in the 2nd half today until they scored even if we played in our box, after they scored though it was all City until ET.

I think we need a bit more depth in attack and midfield, we didn't really have many options on the bench when our front 3 and middle 3 looked gassed other than Modric and Brahim.

 

Real Madrid are the only team to knock out Man City over two legs since 2020. And we have done it twice.

 

Yeah, Carlo doesn't get credit. But putting in 5 defenders when Man City had all the momentum after the KDB goal was a masterstroke. Often people rave about the tactical genius of Pep, but ignore the subtle but critical changes Carlo makes to pull out the improbable win. Whether its a key sub, or sitting in a deep block, Carlo just gets the job done.

Real Madrid can win pretty and win ugly. But all that matters is that they win. The winning DNA is what makes Real Madrid such an incredible and enamouring club. Carlo is just the right man for the job. He knew that Real Madrid had to be pushed to the limit and suffer to win. Luckily, the players responded wonderfully. Even down to little used players like Lucas V and Nacho stepped up massively today. Respect.

Just to put things in perspective on what just happened: The underdogs (if Real Madrid can ever really be considered that) went against the reigning Treble champions who are at full strength, down several key players, and somehow dug deep to eliminate them. Truly awesome. It will inspire generations of kids in the power of self-belief and hard work.

 

Lets not forget something. Real Madrid led Man City for 50 mins in the first leg and 60 mins in the second. That's roughly 60% of the tie that Real Madrid were ahead. The rest of the time, majority Real were level with City.

Despite the "possession domination" by City, they were hardly the superior team where it mattered: getting results and being efficient. EPL fans and bitter anti-madridistas will say Man City were the better team, but they're blind to how Madrid were rarely ever behind in this tie.

 

Buenos días, madridistas.

¡Somos el puto Real Madrid!pic.twitter.com/TAg7zA0xST

— Madrid Sports (@MadridSports_) April 18, 2024

What a video

 

Carlo Ancelotti’s reaction to Real Madrid winning the penalty shootout.

The calmest man in the stadium. 😂🤍pic.twitter.com/LxkUCaJNhz

— TC (@totalcristiano) April 17, 2024

 

HALA MADRID! WHAT A win, guys what a win. When i saw Lucas juggling ball so casualy i thought this team just different. GOAT. Amazing win, team did hell of a job

 

📲 Rüdiger to Kroos: “You can show emotions?” 😂 pic.twitter.com/yDx4ZLB9ZG

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) April 18, 2024