The first leg of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) semi-final between Real Madrid and Manchester City ended in 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday.
The second leg will be played at Manchester City’s home ground, Etihad Stadium, on Wednesday May 17.
Here are three things that go against Real Madrid ahead of the second leg
- Real Madrid have never won at the Etihad stadium.
- The last time Manchester City lost a Champions League game at the Etihad was in 2018.
- Real Madrid has never reached the Champions League final after drawing the first leg of semi-finals at home.
It must be noted that Kevin De Bruyne´s brilliant drive earned Manchester City a 1-1 draw at Real Madrid in a gripping Champions League semi-final first leg battle.
The Belgian slammed Pep Guardiola´s visitors level after Vinicius Junior opened the scoring for the reigning champions from distance in similarly spectacular fashion.
Madrid managed to completely shackle lethal striker Erling Haaland but De Bruyne´s powerful effort left the tie on a knife edge ahead of the second leg in Manchester next week.
The record 14-time winners knocked City out at the same stage last season despite being outplayed in both games, and took the lead at the Santiago Bernabeu against the run of play.
However, when Madrid found their stride in the second half, City -- still chasing their first ever Champions League trophy — hit back through De Bruyne.
Madrid central defenders David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger did not give Haaland room to breathe.
"We have to see if we can attack (better), Alaba and Rudiger were so close on Erling," Guardiola told reporters.
"It was not easy to find the spaces. We´ll try to adjust something in the second leg to be more fluid and play with a bit more rhythm."
The visitors controlled much of the first half, with nearly 70 percent possession, but went in trailing at the break.
Thibaut Courtois fielded an early barrage of shots from De Bruyne, Rodri and Haaland, as City dominated and Madrid sat back, soaking up the pressure.
The hosts took the lead through a lethal counter-attack 10 minutes before the break, with Eduardo Camavinga surging past Bernardo Silva, tearing into space and feeding Vinicius.
The Brazilian arrowed a strike into the top left corner from almost 25 yards, past Ederson´s helpless dive. It was Madrid´s only shot in the first half, but the game´s most effective one.
"It´s normal that City have the ball, we don´t have to go mad about that," Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.
"After the goal we played very well, controlling the space, creating things, we played very well, I hope we can repeat it in the second leg."
— Additional input from AFP