AFCON 2025
Jude Bellingham’s 92nd minute goal sealed the win for Real Madrid over Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs.
The defending champions recorded a win over Manchester City at the Etihad in 90 minutes for the first time.
It was a game of two halves but Los Blancos capitalised on Manchester City’s errors to take a slim advantage into the second leg.
While Manchester City controlled and dominated the first 30 minutes of the first half, Carlo Ancelotti’s men struggled to to play through City’s press.
Erling Haaland gave the home side the lead in first-evsr goal against Real Madrid.
Joskol Gvardiol chested Jack Grealish’s pass towards the Norwegian striker and he buried the ball into the back of the net with a left-footed shot.
Vinicius Jr responded with a brilliant shot from the left flank but his shot smashed the crossbar.
Thibault Courtois pulled off a great save to stop Phil Foden ferocious attempts at goal while Manuel Akanji’s header from a corner went off the crossbar.
Kylian Mbappe found himself in space and took a one-time shot in the box towards goal but Ederson denied him with a save.
However, the Brazilian goalkeeper had no answer to Mbappe’s miscued acrobatic effort moments later as equalized for the visitors.
Real Madrid were quite wasteful in front of goal as they squandered a couple of chances to go ahead in the match.
The visitors got punished with 10 minutes to the end of regular time as Haaland scored from the penalty spot.
Down but not out, the defending champions equalized again.
Former Manchester City player, Brahim Diaz took advantage of Ederson’s poor save as he smashed the rebound into the bottom-left corner.
Manchester City’s defensive frailties lead to the third goal. Vinicius Jr intercepted a clearance, layed a pass towards Jude Bellingham who tapped the ball into an empty net.
Real Madrid take a slim 3-2 advantage to the Santiago Bernabeau ahead of the second leg in eight days.
