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Manchester City and Real Madrid played out a game that will live on in UEFA Champions League history forever
With the dust settling on Manchester City’s incredible humiliation of Real Madrid, here are five things that happened during the match that you probably missed as the Cityzens romped to a 4-0 win over Los Blancos in the UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg.
Manchester City’s first-half dominance in two stats
Manchester City played one of the best halves of football that they have produced in the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid and their dominance showed in two key stats apart from the goals scored.
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21:57 - 17.05.2023
Manchester City embarrass Real Madrid to book second final in history
Manchester City brush aside Real Madrid to advance to the Champions League final for the second time under Pep Guardiola.
25 minutes until first pass in opponent’s half
Real Madrid suffered tremendously against Manchester City’s press in a near-perfect first half from the Cityzens’ and the gap in quality and ideas was there for all to see, no more evident than in Los Blancos’ failure to even reach their opponent’s half until after they had conceded a goal.
Real Madrid did not make a successful pass into the Manchester City half of the pitch until after Bernardo Silva gave the Cityzens’ the lead and Los Blancos were able to string some positive passes together from kick-off.
After 15 minutes of the first half, Real Madrid had only completed 13 passes, less than one pass a minute, while Manchester City had completed 124 already.
13 shots faced in the first half alone
The first-half dominance was clear to see and with an inferior goalkeeper between the sticks for Real Madrid, the outcome could have been much worse than the 2-0 scoreline that both teams settled for at halftime.
Since Opta started collecting data on the competition, few teams have put as much pressure on the Real Madrid goal as Manchester City, with the Cityzens’ 13 shots on goal equalling the record set by Bayern Munich in 2012 for the most shots on goal against Real Madrid in the first half of a UCL knockout stage match.
Guardiola reaches 100 wins
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola reached a number of milestones with the win over Real Madrid, but the most celebrated will perhaps be the manager’s 100th win in the UEFA Champions League in only his 14th campaign in the competition.
The win puts him on the same pedestal with greats like Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti as the only three managers with 100 or more wins in the competition.
In addition to this, Guardiola also became one of only a handful of managers to have reached four UEFA Champions League finals, with only Wednesday’s opponent, Ancelotti, appearing in more.
Pep the scourge of Real Madrid
Guardiola’s record wins also saw him create history against Real Madrid after becoming the first manager to knock Los Blancos out of the UEFA Champions League on three separate occasions.
The Barcelona native has now beaten Real Madrid twice in the semifinals of the UCL. Once with his hometown club, Barcelona, and now with Manchester City as well.
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06:38 - 18.05.2023
UCL ‘Highest result of my career’ – Guardiola gloats after Manchester City blow Real Madrid apart
City outclassed the reigning champions to set a date with Inter Milan in the final.
He also knocked Real Madrid at the round of 16 stage in the 2019/20 season, leaving him with three victories over Los Blancos in knockout competition stages of the UCL, more than any other manager on record.
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Real Madrid milestone disappointment
The game was one to forget for Los Blancos as they fell to one of the worst defeats in the club’s history in their favourite competition.
Only against Liverpool in the 2008/09 season had Real Madrid lost by a margin of four goals or more in the UEFA Champions League before facing Manchester City, and they were blown away by the Citizens to equal a very unwanted record.
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13:06 - 18.05.2023
Man City vs Real Madrid: 5-time Champions League winner Modric reduced to tears during post-match interview
Luka Modric was nowhere to be found when Real Madrid were humiliated 4-0 by Manchester City. The Croatian midfielder was spotted shedding tears while speaking to the Spanish media.
In addition to their individual record, Los Blancos also equalled a competition record after losing by the joint largest margin in a UEFA Champions League semifinal fixture along with Barcelona’s losses to Liverpool in 2019 and Bayern in 2013, as well as the Bavarians’ loss to Los Blancos in the 2013/14 season.
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