In the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, the Madrid night became a real show. Real Madrid hosted Manchester City at their home stadium, the Santiago Bernabeu, and secured a convincing 3-0 victory. Now it seems there's intrigue before the return match, but the very first game strongly demonstrated that it wasn't Manchester but Real Madrid who had the key word in this pair.
The fate of the match was decided by the first half itself. Real Madrid's Uruguayan midfielder Federico Valverde shone like a true star: he scored consecutive goals and scored a hat-trick in the 20th, 27th, and 42nd minutes. This was Valverde's first career goal of three times in one game, and such statistics show how historic he made yesterday's evening.
The match is particularly noteworthy for us in another aspect: Uzbekistan national team defender Abduqodir Husanov played the full 90 minutes for Manchester City. He once again gained experience playing on the big stage, under high pressure - such games "cook" the defender, don't forgive mistakes, but become experience.
Real Madrid also had plenty of opportunities in the second half. Even in the 58th minute, Vinicius received a penalty, but he missed the opportunity - the shot was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the overall picture remained unchanged: Real Madrid controlled the game, while City couldn't recover from a first-half shot.
The second leg will take place in Manchester in a week. The task for City is now very difficult: losing at least three goals at home, not conceding any more goals, and reviving the game. "Real" will advance to the next game with this result with much more calmness and psychological superiority.
UCL. Round of 16
Real Madrid - Manchester City 3:0
Goals: Valverde 20, 27, 42.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Trent (Carvajal, 83'), Rüdiger, Heisen, Mendy (Fran Garcia, 46'), Valverde, Tchouaméni, Diaz (Mastantuono, 76'), Thiago (Moran, 76'), Guler (Camavinga, 70'), Vinicius.
Manchester City: Donnarumma, Dias, Guehi, Husanov, O'Reilly, Rodri, Silva (Ait-Nuri, 70), Savinho (Reinders, 46), Semenyo (Sherki, 70), Doku, Haaland (Marmus, 82).
Missed penalty: Vinicius 58.
In short, there was a Valverde evening at Bernabéu. "City" is forced to look for a miracle in Manchester. Anything can happen in football, but 3:0 is already big news.
Read “Zamin” on Telegram!
