Reviewing Real Madrid x Manchester City

As the sequence of blunders by Manchester City occurred leading up to first goal of the match from Isco, putting Real Madrid at a point where the English side was beginning to dominate the match it felt like deja vu, once again under extraordinary circumstances against the balance of play a Pep Guardiola team was headed towards an early exit in the Champions League, but then something happened.

The team that was actually performing better and creating more chances (Man City) continued to do so despite the setback of conceding the opening goal and in a well placed cross from the best player on the pitch Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus made it 1-1. Not much later Sterling suffered a disputable penalty and finally we saw De Bruyne taking it, in a time of doubt in that area for City, the Belgian stepped up and scored with ease.

The first half actually surprised me to a certain extent, Real Madrid had around 58% possession for the majority of it and that's just not something we are used to seeing from City under Guardiola. Madrid opted for Isco instead of two traditional wingers, this getting an extra man on the midfield while City defended with a 4-4-2 using Gabriel Jesus ss the midfielder on the left in the defensive phase. We've grown acostumed to watching a more cautious City version in these big matches especially with the 4-4-2 use and Gundogan alongside a defensive midfielder but in this match in particular especially in the first half they took it to another level.

Gabriel Jesus had an effort worth praising on both phases and Kevin De Bruyne showed in the biggest moments what he can do and City head home with a solid advantage but it's Real Madrid we are talking about and to count them out would be foolish to say the least.

Stay tuned for the review of Lyon x Juventus as the French side managed an unbelievably great 1-0 win under the circumstances. Without conceding an away goal they can now head to Turin with real chances of advancing in what would be the biggest upset of this round.

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