Champions League: Man City Final Hope Gets Slim After Narrow Win Against Real Madrid

 

Manchester City now have a tough game on their hands to survive the semi-finals after a slim 4-3 victory over Real Madrid in their first-leg tie at Etihad Stadium. 

Pep Guardiola's men had a superb show brilliance on the pitch and did have better chance of winning the game by a wider margin but that was ruined by multiple misses especially from Riyadh Mazreh. 

Mahrez set off Kevin De Bruyne with a curling cross to pounce a header onto and put City in the lead in just two minutes into the game. That was soon followed by Gabriel Jesus tapping home Bruyne's cross for the second goal. Both goals came in within ten minutes. 

Soon after Mahrez missed a chance to make it a third for City, Real's forward Karim Benzema tapped home Ferland Mendy's cross and cut down the deficit.

Multiple poor back passes nearly cost City dearly but it soon happened that Fernandinho's cross found Foden for a header from close range and that made it a third for City. 

That lead was soon reduced by Vicinius Junior, who led a fast break and yet scored Real's second. Bernando Silva lashed home a loose ball to make it fourth for City, who later committed a needless handball and Benzema converted the penalty. 

City were very much into the game and the frontline was really sharp. They would need great composure to be able to hold Real down to the aggregate gain at home by the time they get to Bernabue for the second-set tie.