Champions League: Furious Manchester City tears Real Madrid apart and moves Guardiola to tears

Status: 11:12 p.m | Reading time: 3 minutes

MManchester City deservedly reached the final of the Champions League. Coach Pep Guardiola’s team won the semi-final second leg in front of their home crowd 4-0 (2-0) against Real Madrid. It is only City’s second appearance in a final, in 2021 the club lost the final against Chelsea.

The leaders of the English Premier League had already wrested a 1-1 draw from the Madrilenians in the first leg. City followed the draw with a football demonstration. The defending champion from Spain should have been behind after just 15 minutes. Manchester’s super striker Erling Haaland alone failed twice with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

After the impression of the first few minutes, it was doubtful whether it made sense to do without Antonio Rüdiger in the Real starting eleven after his strong performance against the City superstar in the first leg. Real was under constant pressure – and the Norwegian football violence played its part. Even without a goal.

On the sidelines, Ancelotti abused his chewing gum early on in his 191st Champions League game as coach, with which he is now the sole record holder ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson. Colleague Guardiola waved and waved his arms. A duel of the giants also on the edge.

25 home games in a row, City did not concede a defeat at home in the Champions League. But not losing would not be enough. A win was needed. And that’s how the English champion performed. Guardiola trusted the same starting XI as in the first leg. Fast, agile, technically well versed, garnished with power and wild determination. Manchester City really showed Real – and moved his coach to tears after the final whistle. Guardiola let out his joy and relief on the pitch.

Kroos hits the bar

Only keeper Thibaut Courtois had the royals to thank for the fact that everything was decided after less than half an hour. The two-meter man from Belgium saved twice artistically against Haaland (13th and 21st). Courtois was also powerless when Bernardo Silva shot from around twelve meters and was completely unmarked and served perfectly by Kevin De Bruyne. The defense around Militão, who had moved into the starting line-up for Rüdiger after his yellow card suspension in the first leg, allowed them to do so.

Kroos showed how dangerous the defending champion can be in such a phase thanks to his individual special class. In the 35th minute, the ex-world champion took aim, well over 20 meters from goal. But the ball only hit the crossbar. “We lost the game in the first 20 to 25 minutes, we were too passive,” said Kroos. “It was not good of us and too good of them. We were often this one or two meters away so that we didn’t really get into the duels. To cut a long story short: we deserved to be eliminated.”

And on the other side, the ball landed a little later in the goal again. This time Gündogan was involved, his shot was deflected and the rebound landed on Bernardo Silva. Goal number two for the 28-year-old Portuguese.

Inter remains without a goal

In the second section, Manchester initially missed a higher victory. Real Madrid only became dangerous when Toni Kroos shot the crossbar. With the support of Madrid’s Eder Militao, former Dortmund player Manuel Akanji then headed in to make it 3-0 with a quarter of an hour to go. Substitute Julian Alvarez even made it 4-0 in added time (90+1).

In terms of form, the English are also the big favorite for the title on June 10 in Istanbul. The final will take place in the Turkish capital in three and a half weeks. The opponent is Inter Milan, who won the second city derby 1-0 against AC Milan the night before after beating 2-0 in the first leg.