The European Dream Comes To An End, Real Madrid 1 vs 0 City

“We truly appreciate the fans, sorry we couldn’t give them one more trip this year. ”

, Joe Hart - 04/05/2016

Goals; Fernando (20' minutes og)

Line Up (4-2-3-1); Hart, Sagna, Kompany (Mangala 10'), Otamendi, Clichy, Fernando, Fernandinho, Navas (Iheanacho 69'), KDB, Yaya (Sterling 61'), Aguero
Stats; Possession 53%/47%; Shots 15(5)/5(1); Fouls 5/10.

City stood just 90 minutes away from the Champions League Final. The majority of blues never thought they would read those words in a sentence. Despite the ups and downs of this season domestically, City have undoubtedly put in their best ever performances on the European stage and more than deserved their place among the top four teams. After holding the Spanish Giants to a 0-0 draw at the Etihad, City just needed one goal to see them through. Pellegrini went for an unchanged side from the home leg, other than the injured David Silva who was replaced by Yaya Toure. For Zidane’s side it was a number of changes from the team in Manchester. Replacing the holding power of Casemeiro for the deft touch of Isco in the midfield three. However, the talk of the town, was the return of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Madrid front three, with Bale and Jese alongside him.

Blue moon rang around the Bernabeu from kick off and for the first ten minutes City looked to continue their harassment of Madrid on the ball, which worked so effectively in Manchester. Unfortunately, once again the injury klaxon echoed its piercing sound early in the first half. Kompany. Another muscle injury, looked like his thigh from the way he was holding it. More heartbreak for City’s skipper who was replaced by Mangala on 10’. In a game where leaders were essential, City lost theirs. 

The early departure of Vinny had a domino effect on City’s intensity, and looked somewhat shell shocked. Madrid began to dictate with much more time on the ball, allowing Marcelo and Carvajal to exploit the flanks tirelessly, with City now posing little threat of an intense breakaway. It was this exploitation that lead to the opener. Modric picking up the ball from deep and spreading it to Carvajal who hugged the touchline. Bale breaking the offside trap from an out of synch Fernando, received the ball to the right hand side of the box, where his deflected cross looped in over Hart and nestled in off the post Given as a Fernando O.G., proving that lady luck was not going to make it easy. 

Technically, the game plan was still the same, one goal needed. However, City struggled to string any sort of flowing football together. Kroos and Modric were outstanding at recycling possession, leaving Yaya Toure no room to get a hold of the ball, Aguero stranded in between the mammoth partnership of Pepe and Ramos. City’s only attempt of the first half came from KDB finally managing to fit into the pocket of space where Silva usually dominates. A quick through ball to Fernandinho who cut inside and rifled his shot which ricocheted off the outside of the Madrid post. Just 45 minutes left to score a goal. 

The second half continued in the same vein as the first. Yaya Toure looked unfit, unsurprising given his return from a series of injuries. Fernando and Fernandinho were slightly less rushed to win the ball back. Allowing Madrid to enjoy possession a bit more. Nevertheless, neither side really troubled the other. A header from a corner by Bale on 63’ hit the stanchion of Hart’s goal, the closest they came to extending their lead. Yaya replaced by Sterling and Navas replaced by Iheanacho saw Manuel’s last throw of the dice. The pair certainly giving the blues a lift, but still City looked out of ideas and rushed in attack. Aguero began to search for the ball, as did KDB which resulted in them both crowding Nacho’s space, leaving Raheem as the only outlet. Aguero’s attempted 30 yard Howitzer which grazed the top of Keylor Navas’ net the only time City really got the crowd on their feet.

Full time and the one goal that City needed, never really looked like happening. One shot recorded as on target. The Journey ended in Madrid. It could have been different. Fernandinho hit the post late in the first half. There was also a break in the first half where Navas was wrongly given offside. Real could easily have been down to ten men after a reckless challenge on Sterling by Vasquez. However on the night the better team won.

A lot of City fans feel genuinely hurt by the lack of gusto shown by Pellegrini’s men. Better to have tried and failed comes to mind. In my opinion, the fact that City only needed one goal hindered and certainly did not help them. The poisoned apple of the away goal led to City attempting to only play for that. Going 1-0 down didn’t change anything. Getting to the 80th minute didn’t change anything. It was still just one goal. Social loafing is a psychological term used to describe the phenomenon of an individual relying on the rest of the group to achieve. City had 10 (sorry, Joe) potential match winners who could have delivered that one goal. It is possible that the reliance on keeping it to only needing one goal, led to no one stepping up and going that much further to actually take the chance. City set out to keep the game at needing one goal. Madrid set out to keep City still needing that goal. As a result, City never looked like stepping up a gear, because they never planned on needing to, it was only one goal.

Did City go out with a whimper, everyone will have their own opinion. For me, we have performed at a level throughout this competition that has been above and beyond anything we have seen before against this calibre of opposition. Manuel has been given countless amounts of stick for being ‘tactically inept’. In the league, perhaps. In the Champions League, he has engineered our success. The license given to Fernandinho to break forward which changed the game in Borussia. Taking off our only striker, Bony for Fernando to give KDB free reign in the ‘false 9’ role which won the home tie against Sevilla at the death. Qualifying from another ‘group of death’ with two games to spare. Winning the tie outright in Kyiv with a blistering display. This has without a doubt been a huge strive forward in this competition.

If City can produce this level of performance, I have full faith that Pep will only build on these foundations set by Manuel. Judge Pellegrini differently in the league to Europe, because it is like a completely separate team. On reflection of course we all wanted City to go out with a bang, but looking back no one gave us the right to make it that far, we earned it. I wouldn’t bet against us going one step beyond and being at the Principality come June 3rd 2017.

@PatrickElano