Pep Guardiola had asked his players to at least give the Santiago Bernabéu a fright; instead, they were the ones exposed to a terrifying truth, wearing a haunted, hollow look.
It is not just a Champions League campaign that is over, a Kylian Mbappé hat-trick sending Real Madrid through here; on the evidence of another dark night in this strangest of seasons, it is Manchester City. The side that Guardiola said was a machine for eight years is no more, small wonder he admitted he was lying when he gave them a 1% chance of going through: it was not even that high.
At the start City needed only one goal. By the time they actually got it, Nico González scoring in the last minute after Omar Marmoush’s free‑kick came back off the bar, it meant nothing. Which is a pretty good word to describe City, a ghost in this game.
The goal was greeted with ironic cheers, fans continuing to laugh at opponents who would have worried them once but which Madrid had played with and pitied. They had certainly taken their foot off the pedal, no need for more. By then City were 3-0 down, 6-2 on aggregate, any hope long gone. In part perhaps, because it had never really been there at all.
Real Madrid were superb, confirming their candidacy for the competition they consider their own. Mbappé does everything so smoothly, with an air of total mastery. Federico Valverde is not a right-back but might be the best right-back there is. Rodrygo, the least celebrated of their front four, ripped another team apart. And that’s just three of them, even the youth-teamer Raúl Asencio picking off City with the pass that started their destruction. Their only bad news on a perfect night that ended to olés was the yellow card that means Jude Bellingham will miss the first leg of their last-16 tie against Bayer Leverkusen or Atlético Madrid.
For City, the only good news is that at least it’s over now. An era surely ends here, or already has. Carlo Ancelotti had said he did not want to face them but it was all reputation, no reality. Too much has gone wrong for too long and winter surgery could not fix them. This was the team that had conceded four against Paris Saint‑Germain and Sporting, three against Feyenoord, how could they not be beaten by Madrid? Still, they might have hoped to hang on for more than four minutes, the goal that broke the illusion that this was ever going to be a game coming as easy as it did early.
City had kept the ball for three minutes from kick-off, while Madrid just stood there as if to say: is that all you got? And then, when they got it for the first time, they scored a goal so simple it was almost ridiculous. Asencio speared the ball over the City defence. Rúben Dias, leaning towards it, let it bounce. John Stones didn’t get there. Ederson didn’t get anywhere really. Mbappé watched it sit up and then lifted it easily over the goalkeeper and into the net. Four minutes and it was finished, City showing no belief in anything better.
When Josko Gvardiol had a shot blocked by Aurelién Tchouaméni soon after, it was the only time City shot in the first half and it hardly registered. They hardly registered in fact. They didn’t even have more of the ball than Madrid; there was nothing there, an empty team drifting through the night, slow and aimless and vulnerable. If Madrid didn’t do more, it was because they didn’t need to. Every time they did put their foot down a bit, they escaped.
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Vinícius Júnior took on Abdukodir Khusanov, who had no chance; Rodrygo left Ilkay Gündogan behind. Mbappé had two shots deflected. Vinícius turned Khusanov so easily on the halfway line. When Gündogan was booked for taking out Rodrygo, it was a portrait of a man who just couldn’t keep up. When at last Marmoush was able to run, Asencio cut him down. And when Mbappé was again free over the top – this time it was Tchouaméni delivering a lovely dinked pass – and struck at Ederson, it was only a temporary letoff, the second goal following shortly after.
Again, it seemed so simple, so unobstructed, Madrid just superior. Vinícius found Rodrygo on the face of the area. Unsure, Khusanov started towards him, stopped, and saw (or didn’t see) the pass go through his legs. Mbappé stepped inside, left Gvardiol on the floor, and finished calmly. City were lost. They needed three goals now; one would have been a start. A single shot would have been something, but no. Instead, it was Madrid who got a third. Coming inside, Mbappé guided a clean, low shot beyond Ederson like it was no big deal, which is how the whole thing had felt.
There was half an hour left, which was half an hour too long for City who were just being played with. There was one late goal, González’s moment of nothingness, but this match, like City’s season, like City’s team too perhaps, was finished.
Source: theguardian.com
