Manchester City edge Madrid in a seven goal thriller but all still to play for after a showing for ages at the Ethiad

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The Champions League semi final first leg between Manchester City and Real Madrid produced some outstanding attaching football, which saw both sides score a combined seven goals in a game that had almost everything.

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City celebrates scoring their 1st goal with Phil Foden of Manchester City during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final Leg One match between Manchester City and Real Madrid at City of Manchester Stadium on April 26, 2022 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

Heading into the match, Pep Guardiola’s City were favourite and made a very good start with Belgian midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne heading then in front from a Riyad Mahrez cross under two minutes of kickoff.

The goal, which was scored at exactly 93 seconds from kickoff was the earliest the Citizens have scored from the start of any Champions League game.

The lead was doubled before eleven minutes as De Bruyne again sent a cross cum pass into the box looking for Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian manages to beat his marker and fired his shot past Thibaut Courtois for the second time on the night.

In doing so, Jesus made it three goals in his previous three games against Real Madrid.

Out of nothing, Karim Benzema pulled one back for Los Blancos three minutes after the half hour mark. Mendy sent a across into the area looking for the Frenchman and he managed to beat his marker before firing a one time shot past in the City goal.

The Frenchman in the process scored his 13th goal in the competition this season, going level with Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski in the race for the top scorer this season.

It was also his 40th goal across all club competitions this season, becoming the first Real Madrid player to achieve the feat since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017-18.

Karim Benzema of Real Madrid celebrates scoring his team's third goal during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final Leg One match between Manchester City and Real Madrid at City of Manchester Stadium on April 26, 2022 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)

Prior to Madrid scoring, Manchester City had been presented great chances to go out of sight of visitors but no thanks to poor finishings from Riayd Mahrez and Phil Foden, they went into the half-time break with just a 2-1 lead.

Mahrez was presented another chance to restore City's two goal cushion just three minutes after the restart but his effort came crashing of the woodwork and the rebound fell straight to Foden, who took it one time only to see it cleared off the line by Dani Carvajal.

Five minutes later, Manchester City have their goal as Fernandinho intercepted a pass to Vinicius Junior, exchanges with Mahrez before getting the return and sending a cross into the area, which was headed home by Phil Foden.

The 21 year old becomes the youngest English player to reach nine goals in the competition, level with what Wayne Rooney had with Manchester United at the same age.

Real Madrid replied with Vinicius this time beating Fernandinho to the same pass that led to City's third goal. The Brazilian ran down the wing into the City box, beating the defenders for pace before slotting his effort past Ederson.

Man of the match, Bernardo Silva restores City's two goals advantage again, taking over the ball after Zinchenko had been fouled by Toni Kroos. The referee played the advantage and the Portuguese takes a turn before fizzling a sublime strike into the top left corner.

City were awarded a penalty after Laporte headed the ball into his own hands from a Toni Kroos free-kick. Karim Benzema stepped up to score his second on the night with a well taken paneka penalty.

The goal takes him to 14 in the Champions League this season, his ninth in the last four games and overtaking Robert Lewandowski and becoming the outright top scorer in the competition on his 600th appearance for Los Blancos.

Benzema also becomes the first player to score five away goals in the knockout rounds of a single Champions League campaign, after his hat-trick against Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge last round.

It ended 4-3 to the host, meaning they have now won three consecutive games against Real Madrid while also becoming the only English side with up to three wins in the competition.

Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City celebrates with Gabriel Jesus after scoring goal during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final Leg One match between Manchester City and Real Madrid at City of Manchester Stadium on April 26, 2022 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)

The seven goals scored is the joint-highest scoring ever Champions League semi-final, along with Ajax 5-2 Bayern Munich in April 1995 and Liverpool 5-2 Roma in April 2018.

A goal lead means all is still there to be fought for when both sides go again at the Bernabéu next week.


Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi

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