MADRID, 10 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid and Manchester City ended the first leg of the Champions League semifinals with a draw (1-1) at the Santiago Bernabéu, leaving open a tie that will be decided next Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium, in a final duel to seal their ticket to the continental final in Istanbul on June 10 and in an almost impassable fiefdom both in the competition and for the Madrid team.
After the first even match in the capital, everything will be decided next Wednesday May 17 at the Etihad, a stadium where Real Madrid has never won in its four visits, and where, on the contrary, the authority of its ‘owners’ can be decisive.
The English champions have not lost in their stadium since November last year, when they fell (1-2) in the match prior to the break for the World Cup in Qatar. From there, they have gone 17 games without losing, a hierarchy that is more overwhelming considering their almost flawless run in the Champions League over the last four seasons.
The last defeat in the Etihad in the competition was in their opening of the group stage of the 2018-2019 season against the French Olympique de Lyon. Since then, out of 25 matches, only Ukrainian Shakhtar (1-1 in the 2019-2020 first phase), and Portuguese Sporting (0-0 in the round of 16 second leg of 2021-2022 after 0-5 in Lisbon), came out without losing, a new record for an English team.
City have won 17 of their last 18 European home games, including the last seven, and have conceded just four goals. There, the current European champion has not yet been able to win on his four visits. In fact, at the Etihad the only Spanish team capable of winning the ‘citizen’ feud in the Champions League was FC Barcelona in the 2014-2015 round of 16 (1-2).
Last year, Ancelotti’s pupils came out of the Etihad with a lot of life, also in the semifinals, with a 4-3 for the English, who could have increased their income much more if their lack of aim and the ‘plugged in’ had not been crossed Vinicius and Benzema.
Earlier, in 2020, with Zinédine Zidane on the bench, Real Madrid fell again (2-1), then in the second leg of the round of 16 and was eliminated after the first leg defeat at the Bernabéu (1- 2). Sterling and Gabriel Jesús did not waste two separate errors by Varane, while Benzema made the provisional 1-1 in a game without an audience due to the pandemic.
Real Madrid’s most positive results against City date from 2016 and 2012. Seven years ago, the whites drew a poor but valuable 0-0 victory in the first leg of the semifinals against a team coached by their ex Manuel Pellegrini, whom they eliminated with the 1-0 of the turn in Madrid. The other match is from the group stage of the 12-13 campaign, which ended with a tie at one goal (Benzema and Agüero).
REAL MADRID ALREADY ASSAULTED OTHER FORTINS
The objective of the current European champion will be to conquer another ‘big’ continental feud as he has already achieved in recent years or this season where he already beat Liverpool (2-5) at Anfield and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge (0- 2), stadium where they also won last year (1-3).
In addition, on the way to the ‘Décima’, in 2014 and against Bayern then coached by Pep Guardiola, he was able to win in Munich, a historically adverse scenario, by 0-4, repeating the victory at the Allianz on the way to the ‘Twelfth’ (1-2) and towards the ‘Thirteenth’ (1-2), in both cases in first legs. He also stormed the Parque de los Príncipes (1-2) and the Allianz de Turín (0-3) in the 2017-2018 campaign.
Nor should we forget that this season, the team coached by Carlo Ancelotti certified their place in the final of the Copa del Rey after a clear and resounding 4-0 win against FC Barcelona in another important stadium like the Spotify Camp Nou.