Real Madrid 1-1 Man City (Vinicius Jr 36′ | De Bruyne 67′)
SANTIAGO BERNABEU STADIUM — Let’s start with a disclaimer, because the quality of football skirted the line between parental guidance recommended and downright naughty.
These are surely the two best teams in Europe when at peak performance, and it shows. The attacking dashes were played at double speed, the passing out from the back, a whir of passing triangles to make Pythagoras a little hot under the collar, was the surest signifier of the newest football age.
The control and one-touch distribution under pressure is another world from mid-noughties football. Whatever happened on Tuesday and may happen next week, both sides are worthy of our highest acclaim and anyone in the Bernabeu should consider themselves fortunate.
It is trite to call these special nights; you know as much by now. They began to assemble on Avenida de Concha Espina three hours before kick off, and within an hour they were a mass of white shirts and loud voices. When, 90 minutes before Real Madrid began yet another European Cup semi-final, the team coach pulled into view and began to roll down the hill, it was flanked by police horses who desperately tried to hold back the rush.
It was a flawless evening for football. The atmosphere was intense, supercharged by the pre-match street party. The hot sun had faded into late spring dusk, its rays spearing through the lattice framework of the Bernabeu’s building work. The concrete exoskeleton has been replaced by silver horizontal slats, as if a spaceship has landed in Chamartin. The aliens made a solid choice; you wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else in the sporting world.
Vinícius Jr that is special
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 9, 2023
Real Madrid lead Man City at the Bernabéu!#UCL pic.twitter.com/IGZsfONGu1
Predictably, Manchester City were able to dominate early possession and territory. They had more than two-thirds of the ball in the first 20 minutes. Kevin De Bruyne had the first shot in anger, Rodri the second and Erling Haaland the third and fourth. John Stones strode around the midfield like a general who has just been told that there are no more enemies coming over the hill.
If anything – adopts co-commentator voice – City had too much of the ball. There were times, when those in white fell towards their own goal in three banks, that a Guardiola disciple stood still with the ball at their feet and wondered quite how they could get past the army.
That – counterintuitively – is when Real Madrid are at their best. Against almost every other elite club, the time when you must concentrate the most is when you don’t have the ball. Against Real Madrid, it’s when you have the ball that you are in danger. One mental fade, one slip in technique, one loss of possession, and you’re toast. Jerry always gets Tom in the end.
The speed of the counterattack was breathtaking, quickened up because everything was performed with such clarity under pressure. Luka Modric played a pass round the corner into the feet of Eduardo Camavinga. Camavinga, just 20 and playing in a position he publicly concedes isn’t his best, flies forward with the ball like a terrier intent on fetching one. The best is left to Vinicius Jr, who hits a shot without breaking stride so that the ball seems like a part of him that he is choosing to release at super speed.
Real Madrid’s other phenomenal attribute is their ability to use one moment in their favour as lifeblood that overshadows everything that might have gone against them. From wondering if you can win 1-0, you find yourself reassuring yourself that a 1-0 defeat wouldn’t be a bad result within the space of two minutes. Madrid’s older legs don’t feel quite as tired and the younger players scamper and dash around them. They meet in some utopian middle ground where everyone is at their peak.
Stepping up when needed, Kevin De Bruyne
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 9, 2023
Man City are level in Madrid!#UCL pic.twitter.com/Hghto1D1oE
Would Manchester City of years past have capitulated? Perhaps, and perhaps they still will again. But there is a steel that has developed over the course of 2023 that makes them look different, even if the same result becomes real. Stones is there pumping chests and fists. Kyle Walker is mopping up at the back post and staying calm enough to play the right pass. City have become a pressure sponge, sneakily wringing out the excess water at every break of play.
And they have their own wizard capable of scoring from outside the box if given a nanosecond too much time and space. De Bruyne was nowhere near his best in Madrid, a frustrating collection of overhit crosses and under hit passes and lack of connection with Haaland. But he can rasp a shot past any goalkeeper in the world. Even self-appointed Ballon D’Or candidate Thibaut Courtois.
We didn’t want it to be over after one leg; that would have felt like short change when watching these two coaches with these two teams. We meet in Manchester in a week’s time and those of us lucky enough to be neutral will salivate at the thought that it might just pick up where it left off. The prize-winning cat vs the wiliest mouse of them all; Don Carlo vs Professor Pep; the grandest history vs the new era of soft power.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/gLlciIP
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