The king is dead – long live the Real ones of European football. But Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic missed from the spot to leave their side’s hopes of pulling off a stunning double Treble in tatters. It was City’s first home defeat in Europe since 2018 – and will take some getting over considering the hosts dominated the game from start to finish.
No wonder Guardiola didn’t want to discuss another Treble. Because they come round once in a lifetime. And he was boosted by the returns of key duo De Bruyne and captain Kyle Walker, but there was no place for John Stones.
Real, meanwhile, welcomed back Nacho in defence to replace the suspended Aurelien Tchouameni. Like Guardiola said in his programme notes before kick-off, games didn’t come much bigger than this. No bigger, in fact, if the recent clashes between these two European heavyweights had been anything to go by.
And with all the talent on show, it felt like a coming together of footballing royalty for what promised to be another classic. And it was Real who landed the first blow inside 12 minutes through Rodrygo. The move started with a sublime touch from Jude Bellingham, who fed Federico Valverde to get the move going.
He picked out Vinicius Jnr and the brilliant Brazilian found Rodrygo, who finished at the second attempt after Ederson had somehow saved his first effort. It was no more than Real deserved. Erling Haaland headed Bernardo Silva’s cross just wide before looping another effort onto the crossbar, with Silva somehow failing to connect the loose ball.
The superb Vinicius created another chance for Real when he found Dani Carvajal with a pass that took out three City defenders. Carvajal saw his shot blocked, with Valverde blazing over the follow-up shot. Moments later Andriy Lunin denied Kevin De Bruyne with a flying save and the clash had officially become yet another thriller.
Jack Grealish saw a strike deflect into the side netting before Phil Foden fired just over the top. Foden shot straight at Lunin and Eduardo Camavinga cleared a cross from underneath his own bar. City were battering Carlo Ancelotti’s men and as the clock ticked down, Real’s resistance was finally broken, when De Bruyne pounced on Rudiger’s mistake from substitute Jeremy Doku’s cross to haul City level 14 minutes from time.
And De Bruyne should have won it in normal time, but somehow fired over on 81 minutes to send the tie into extra time.
