Argentina striker Julian Alvarez (C) saves Manchester City 4-0 in stoppage time in the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid celebrates after scoring, sealing his ticket for the final on May 17, 2023 at the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester City will play in the Champions League final after beating Real Madrid 4-0 on Wednesday in the semi-final second leg of the continental tournament, buoyed by a Bernardo Silva double.
Two years after losing to Chelsea, goals from the Portuguese (23, 37), Julián Álvarez (90+1) and Militão’s own goal (76) returned the ‘Citizens’ to the Champions League final, where they faced Inter Milan. Will be from. Who eliminated AC Milan a day earlier.
Pep Guardiola’s men will travel to Istanbul on June 10 to try to reach ‘Orezona’ for the first time in their history, after leaving the competition’s defending champions in the ditch.
City, who drew 1-1 in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu last week, controlled the game at home against Real Madrid, disappearing in the first half and only coming back timidly after the break.
“Those are the things in football, we played against an opponent who deserved to win because they played with more intensity,” admitted coach Carlo Ancelotti.
Real Madrid barely had the ball in a game in which a successful Thibaut Courtois was the hero for the Meringues to avoid a huge victory.
The Belgian excelled with a header from Erling Haaland (13) and stretched again to keep out another header from the Norwegian striker (21).
– Silva opened the account –
Real Madrid only troubled Toni Kroos’s goal in the first half with a strong long shot off the crossbar (35), well defended by Ederson.
“We had to do well and we did, especially in the first half,” said Guardiola.
City easily escaped White’s pressure, reaching dangerously into Courtois’ domain until Kevin De Bruyne leaked a pass into the area for Bernardo Silva to attack, which made it 1–0 (23).
The Portuguese, who barely featured in the first leg, was one of City’s most decisive men this Wednesday, with Rodri the master of the midfield.
Silva reached the Merengue nets (37) unopposed after taking advantage of a bounced ball after a shot by Ilkay Gundogan to extend the local account at the Etihad after half an hour.
The Portuguese nevertheless tried another shot into the hands of Courtois (45) to send the game into half-time, leaving Real Madrid slightly better.
The Merengue team was able to close the gap when David Alaba lofted a long free kick which Ederson took for a corner (51).
“In the second half, when it was a game to dunk (for Real Madrid), we started running up and down and it was not comfortable. Finally the goals came and it calmed down. Lets win as we have won A great satisfaction to us,” said Guardiola.
– Vinicius stuck –
The white team started to manage and had more balls, but they had a lot of fouls with Luka Modric, who didn’t have his best night.
Vinicius tried to overflow with his pace, but had too much trouble finding a cross to Kyle Walker, who was very attentive to the Brazilian throughout the match.
Real Madrid could not put City in real trouble, which saw Haaland lose a face-off with Courtois in 73 when Etihad scored the goal (73).
A goal that came shortly after De Bruyne scored a free kick, Akanji finished with a header and the ball hit Militão to head into the Merengue goal (76).
With the score at 3–0 and just ten minutes to go, Real Madrid pushed forward with new men but could not find a way to score, while City scored a fourth.
Argentina’s Julián Álvarez took advantage of a filtered pass to make it 4-0 and close the account when he was on the field barely two minutes after coming on for Haaland (89).
