REAL MADRID vs MANCHESTER CITY | Champions League Round of 16 1st Leg | 11.03.26 | 21:00 CET

📸 Real Madrid put Arda Güler & Fran García to mark Erling Haaland in corners. pic.twitter.com/23hNTPvNZo

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 11, 2026

I dont understand why we do this

 

I think Courtois covers that zone close to Haaland. Arda/Fran prevents Haaland from stopping Courtois mobility. Haaland tried to do what Arsenal does to GKs on one occasion, but ref saw and called the foul.

 

We also had Vini marking VVD in the Liverpool game. I dont agree with the choices.

 

Amazing win, felt great.

One player I have to highlight is Mendy, my God! He’s just come back from a long term injury and he puts in a masterclass performance like that. If his body held up better he’d go down as the best left back of his generation, the guy is insanely solid at the back and has extreme composure on the ball in possession in the build up in our half.

His performance brought back memories of the Zidane Covid season when we bought him and he was immaculate.

 

The good thing about Vini missing the PK is that he will feel like he has to make up for it. Hopefully he scores a goal before they do in the Ethihad. 4 goals will be a mountain to climb for them.

 

That's why I always had a soft spot for Mendy. He's had injury troubles, but when he was healthy, he helped us win 3 La Ligas and 2 CLs being a defensive rock.

 

Excellent win especially considering we played with 10 men.

Many standouts but for Pitarch was great, Fede was superman, hell of a few games he's had..

 

🚨 Fede Valverde: “Yes, Vini Jr. asked me if I wanted to take the penalty.

Vini is a Real Madrid legend, he’s a great friend, me and other teammates told him to take it.

(His missed penalty) These things can happen, it’s part of football.” pic.twitter.com/pIvRTKxNWu

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 12, 2026

 

Good that Vini asked. Shooting technique will never be Vini's strength. Coach should create an order when Mbappe is unavailable.

Seen Trent convert in penalty shootouts for Pool and England so he could be a good 2nd choice.

 

🚨 Fede Valverde: “It would’ve been a perfect night for everyone if Vini Jr. scored the penalty, there is frustration, but these things can happen, it’s part of football.

You can score, you can miss, the important thing is how you react, he kept running, trying and the fans… pic.twitter.com/KQm6UP0UM4

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 12, 2026

🚨 Thibaut Courtois: “I’ve read things from you (the press) and told myself ‘Oh my goodness’.

You think this club is a NURSERY and that we do whatever we want but it’s not like this.

We respect all managers that arrive, the medical staff, everyone. I think a lot of criticism is… pic.twitter.com/g6hNd6g6pS

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 12, 2026

🚨 Thibaut Courtois: “NO PLAYER set up Xabi Alonso. I think we did good work.

They said we hate tactics, we hate the videos… look, I had Antonio Conte who did 1 hour of work every day and I was there and didn’t mind it because we are professionals and the priority is my work.… pic.twitter.com/ufdx4qLGiP

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 12, 2026

 

-- I always said that Fede is not a number 8. His asset is to run at the team. He is the best runner/shuttler/box-to-box midfielder in the world.

--Vini Junior cannot take penalty. That is no point of him ever taking one again.

-- When I saw Mendy's name on the line-up, it freaked me out, but he had a good game.

 

I honestly think the oversold the fake posture of shooting to the left. It was so exaggerated that Donnarumma probably saw through the attempt at misdirection and jumped the other way. I think for him a bigger problem is the sending the keeper the other way rather than pure shooting technique.

 

Fede, Tcho and Rudiger worked so much vs City. I'd rest them vs Elche with City game coming up next Tuesday. Maybe start Carva against Elche as well resting Trent.

 

I knew it. Fede doesn't like taking them so I knew he would reject it. Still Vini can't be thr one to. Should have gotten Rudigier who is a wild card.

 

🚨 Zidane: “I’m very happy for Valverde.” pic.twitter.com/SDnbhj58Hf

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 12, 2026

 

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I read somewhere that Vini has missed 6 of his 17 penalties with 3 of them being for RM. McManaman was right, if you're going to attempt this type of penalty without power then you have to have your eyes on the keeper not down like Vini had. I dont understand why player do this fancy run up anyways when pace and power into the bottom corner always works. Ibra always shot his penalties into the same corner but he always scored because they'd be missiles. Valverde with his shooting technique would probably be our best penalty taker but he has to have the confidence to shoot them.

 

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Erling Haaland has only managed 1 goal (penalty) in 5 games against Real Madrid when Antonio Rüdiger was on the pitch. 🔒 pic.twitter.com/eP7QfL8Bv7

— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 12, 2026

Haaland was anonymous last night

 

Only 10 touches for Haaland in 82 minutes.

 

Amazing performance with a lot of energy. I wanted to highlight three things:

• Thiago really impressed me. I'm not going to get carried away, but he showed amazing first touch and calmness, willigness to always receive the ball regardless of pressure, and an almost youthful willingness to relentlessly pressure opponents. Hope he keeps this up!
• Mendy was excellent. His injuries are a problem, unfortunately. But he's an extremely solid defender when fit.
• Our defense looked solid throughout, which isn't something we can often say.

Oh, okay...4 things! Fede was just out of this world, stunning goals and performance.

 

Happy for him, a player i defend always even when he might have a day off, all players do, i like full backs who can defend, in the midst of all the " Sunday league player at best" and, "never crosses the halfway line thus leaving Vin isolated" talk ( which we now know is a myth seeing as it's how Vin plays with all his LB teammates), i always thought he was a quality player, his injury record is poor but there's a good player in there, also happy for Fede, i'm always happy when the guys i defend to the end, biased i suppose, perform as i know they can, finally, Thiago, if he was from Farca he'd already be labeled a "superkid" i think he has a bright future and IMHO completely outshines the much more acclaimed Arda, i only hope we can finish the job next week, pity about the Vin penalty...

Yet again why i prefer strikers who can make opportunities for themselves rather than having to depend solely on "service"......

Never been comfortable with Vin taking penalties that sidefoot thing... meh, even if it comes off sometimes

Uh oh, i'm sure some fans on here know better than Tbo who is actually at the club as a player regarding Xabi vs the lazy divas

 

Valverde you are a machine! Keep up the good work

This is the defensive plan for corners today. The tall players who are good in the air cover the zones, and the smaller players mark opponents man-to-man to disrupt players and protect the goalkeeper. I’m not sure what to think about it myself. I also find it ridiculous that you can block the goalkeeper inside his own box.

Arda wasn’t great overall, but damn did you see that pass he played to Vini with almost no time to decide? That led to the penalty. That’s world-class.

My issue is that the kid doesn’t attempt those difficult passes often enough, even though he clearly has the ability.

 

🚨 Vini Jr. asking Fede Valverde to take the penalty.

Fede Valverde confirmed that he said no. @TNTSportsBR pic.twitter.com/x1v2RFl3vJ

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) March 12, 2026