Real’s rope-a-dope trick stalls City

It takes chutzpah to sit back against Manchester City. That too at home. Real Madrid had less possession, fewer attempts on target and Thibaut Courtois saved more than Ederson but at no point in Tuesday’s 1-1 draw in the Champions League semi-final’s first leg did they look hassled. “It's normal that City have the ball, we don’t have to go mad about that,” said Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid manager.

When Jack Grealish, who wins fouls with Bradmanesque consistency, left a leg on Rodrygo inside the first minute, it felt like the night would be different. It was in the sense that City did not collapse when Real turned it up, even scoring against the run of play through a cracker from Kevin de Bruyne in the 67th minute that cancelled an equally good long-range drive from Vinicius Jr in the 36th. But the way City began was exactly how the game had started last year at the Bernabeu.

For over 20 minutes, Real were pinned back. De Bruyne had brought out a save from Courtois who also needed a strong hand to deny Rodri. De Bruyne and Grealish then found Erling Haaland in quick succession. After 17 minutes, City had five attempts on goal to none by Madrid. After 25 minutes, the home team had 28% possession. The Bernabeu jeered and whistled to faze City and yet the attacks came in waves.

The fear of being overrun, and then overwhelmed, is why teams usually don’t stay back against City. They give little wiggle room, there is symmetry in the way they swarm into the front third and precision in how they circulate the ball. Bayern Munich and Arsenal have been caught up in the gale and so were Leeds United last week. In Madrid, City had a passing accuracy of 90.5%.

But steeped in self-belief befitting of a team that has bested Europe a record 14 times – everyone who started the game had won the Champions League – Real didn’t yield. “I know which team we played against. I know perfectly,” said Guardiola after the match.

In the seventh minute, Toni Kroos ran back to tackle Haaland cleanly inside his penalty area. Luka Modric would often drop back and made a fine block in the 67th minute to deny Rodri. As would Federico Valverde. Barring in the 14th minute, when Antonio Rudiger had lost Haaland, he and David Alaba were equal to everything City threw at them.

“We focused on controlling the players between the lines,” said Ancelotti. “There, I think the work of Kroos, Modric and Valverde was good.”

Inside the third minute, Rudiger barreled into Haaland setting down the marker for the night. Alaba denied him in a one-on-one with a sliding challenge as Haaland shaped to shoot. The bulldozer of a Norwegian striker, who has scored 12 of City’s 26 goals in the Champions League, was kept quiet because the space between Real’s full backs and centre-backs were being filled by Kroos and Valverde, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola told Movistar Plus.

“Normally, when the ball goes to the outside, the centre-back moves, (and) the space is freed up for a one-on-one with the striker, but in this case, it didn’t happen.”

If City still found a way, there was Courtois. If there is a football equivalent of Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope trick, where he would draw punches to tire opponents before going on attack, this was it. With the certainty of that “Gully Boy” number, Real knew their time would come.

It almost did in the 25th minute but Ruben Dias justified his £64m price tag to slide in and intercept Vinicius Jr’s pass for Karim Benzema. Soon after, the moment arrived. All Modric did was swivel but it got Eduardo Camavinga to zoom past Bernardo Silva. John Stones was a step behind and Dias too had taken a step back instead of moving up to close him. That was all Vinicius Jr needed to sling a shot home. It was the Brazilian’s 11th goal contribution in the last 11 Champions League games.

Normally as expressive as Sunil Narine in IPL, Ancelotti showed he could fist pump after Real went ahead from their first shot on target. The very definition of sangfroid on the touchline, Ancelotti would be booked for protesting that the ball had gone out in the build-up to the equaliser. “And I wasn’t even playing…The referee wasn’t very attentive,” said Champions League’s most decorated manager (four trophies as manager and two as player).

By then, Real had grown in the tie. They were pressing, winning corners and the match had opened up. Benzema blasted over, a De Bruyne attempt was saved and Haaland was thwarted by Rudiger. But, unlike last year at the same stage against the same team, the second goal for Real did not come. Benzema’s header was saved by Ederson who also had to arc his right hand to keep out an Aurelien Tchouameni drive.

But for De Bruyne’s magic, Real would have got more from the game. “He helped us in the moment we most needed it,” said Rodri.

That the night ended with hugs and smiles between Real and City players conveyed that at half-time, neither team was unhappy with the result. Grealish is right in saying City are “unbeatable” at home but with Real, it is never over till it is over. It is a tale City know well.

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