Last season Manchester City won its first Champions League in history. Tonight they played their first ever penalty shootout in this competition and failed to win at the packed Etihad: City – Real 1-1 ( 4-3 on penalties). Manchester was better, they created better chances, they had 33 shots and 67% percent of possession, but they failed. How? Well, Real Madrid produced one of the best ever defensive performances in the Champions League and somehow prevailed until the penalty shootout. And there they already had experience (in 2011 and 2016) and also had only one miss (Luka Modrić), unlike the Citizens, whose Silva and Kovačić failed miserably and allowed Real to meet Bayern Munich in the semi-final.Carlo Ancelotti looked like Sean Dyche for most of the game as he had no shame in defending like a relegation candidate from La Liga. Apart from the first (and only goal), Real had only a few chances and all in the first 45 minutes. For the next 75 minutes (second half and two overtimes) they had only three shot in total (none on target) and their only chance was Rudiger’s miss in the 115th minute! The whole world watched with their mouths open as the City’s defenders paraded in the Real’s half, no less than 35 meters from Lunin’s goal, but in the end, the Citizens produced only one goal in regular time, enough for another 30 minutes of hope. One of the most experienced players on the pitch gave the hosts hope when he missed the first penalty (Luka Modrić), but that hope soon vanished when Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovačić missed their penalties. Cool as ice, Antonio Rudiger scored as the last in line and took his team to the semis.In the first game, the first goal was scored already in the second minute, and in this one it was in the 12th, when Real used its first counter attack of the game. Bellingham gave the ball wide to Valerde, who passed it on to Vinicius Jr down the right. His cross found Rodrygo, whose first shot was saved by Ederson but unfortunately the ball poped back to the Brazilian and he scored in his second attempt, raising his total to 17 this season (and fifth in the Champions League). That was basically it for Real until the end of the half as the guests had two more counter-attacks but didn’t use them. As for the hosts, they had plenty of possession as always (over 60%) but it resulted in only two good chances. Haaland’s header hit the bar in the 19th minute and De Bruyne’s shot in the 27th minute saved by Lunin.Nacho’s clumsy start in the 52nd minute was a close shave as he nearly scored an own goal with Haaland right behind his back. Real did absolutely nothing apart from defending deep and that caught up with them in the 76th minute. Doku attacked Valverde and his cross ended up with Rudiger who cleared the ball poorly and Kevin De Bruyne was there to score. The Belgian international could have been the hero but he missed two fantastic chances in the next 10 minutes and the game went into overtime. As it usually happens, there was nothing in the first overtime until literally the last minute, when Rudiger came out of nowhere but missed a sitter from close range. The second overtime was logically even worse, as players from both clubs were seriously tired after so many minutes and with such high tempo. The quality went down further when Rodrygo, Vinicius, Haaland and De Bruyne came out so penalties had to decide the next semi-finalist. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUEQuarterfinals – second legTuesdayDortmund – Atl. Madrid 4-2 (2-0)/Brandt 34, Maatsen 39, Fullkrug 71, Sabitzer 74 – Hummels 49 og, Correa 64/Dortmund win 5-4 on aggBarcelona – PSG 1-4 (1-1)/Raphinha 12 – Dembele 40, Vitinha 54, Mbappe 61 pen, 89/PSG win 6-4 on aggWednesdayBayern – Arsenal 1-0 (0-0) /first leg 2-2//Kimmich 63/Bayern win 3-2 on aggMan.City – Real Madrid 1-1 (0-1) /first leg 3-3/ – penalties 3-4/De Bruyne 76 – Rodrygo 12/Real win on penalties (agg 4-4)
