REAL MADRID stars took just 45 minutes to realise Manchester City weren’t even “half the team” they faced in recent years.
Real and City failed to finish in the Champions League’s top eight during the league phase and that set up a blockbuster play-off for a place in the Last 16.
The two giants first met at the Etihad last week for the first leg, which Los Blancos approached with the utmost respect and refused to pay any attention to Man City’s immense woes in the Premier League.
The Citizens found themselves leading at half-time thanks to Erling Haaland’s opener, and that is when Carlo Ancelotti’s stars came to a sudden realisation.
According to Marca, a big conversation took place in the visitors’ dressing room.
The visitors understood they weren’t playing against the same City that took them to the limit the last three years, during which they faced off in six thrilling Champions League knockout games.
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That was when Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham and co asked themselves: “What are we doing?”
The reigning European champions previously adopted a more defensive strategy, such as last year when they “parked the bus” on the edge of their area in the quarter-finals.
However, the Spanish champions knew they could push this team and press higher as Pep Guardiola’s side was nothing like the rivals they remembered.
Real stars found their opponents to be “physically bad” when pressed with “lots of gaps, lots of gaps” and a “surprisingly fragile” defence.
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Ancelotti’s men returned to the pitch and equalised with Mbappe and kept fighting despite Haaland’s double 10 minutes before full-time as they levelled things up with Brahim Diaz and got the winner through Bellingham during stoppage time.
Real used the lessons they learned in the second leg as they only played attacking football, which was completely different than what they displayed last season against City.
It paid dividends as Mbappe scored a hat-trick during a dominant display that saw Guardiola’s side being often unable to cross the halfway line.
And Man City struggled so much they couldn’t get a shot on or off target until the latter stages of the second half, which saw Nico Gonzalez scoring a consolation goal during stoppage time.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
