Madrid beats City 4-3 on penalties to advance to semis in UCL

MANCHESTER: Real Madrid weathered the storm, silenced the crowd and ultimately ended Manchester City’s brief hold on the Champions League.

The all-time kings of Europe moved a step closer to a record-extending 15th title in the competition they have dominated after a 4-3 win Wednesday on penalties at Etihad Stadium.

But not before being pushed to the limit by defending champion City.

“I was pretty much dead on my feet at the end,” Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham said. “It’s so difficult. They are continuously probing with the ball and move you around. Most teams would fall apart when City gets on top of you, but we stood up really well.”

The game had gone to the uncertainty of a shootout after ending 1-1 on the night and 4-4 on aggregate. City dominated the chances after going behind to Rodrygo’s goal in the 12th minute, but only had Kevin de Bruyne’s equaliser in the 76th to show for its superiority, which included 64% of possession and 18 corners to Madrid’s one through extra time.

That counted for little as Antonio Rudiger struck the decisive spot kick after Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic both saw their penalties saved.

“In this competition, that’s the way football happens,” City manager Pep Guardiola said. “In other sports, for (these) statistics, we would have won.”

Guardiola had few complaints. He accepted his team had failed to capitalise against a Madrid team that was forced to defend deep against wave after wave of attack. Erling Haaland hit the bar with one header in the first half De Bruyne sent an effort sailing over from inside the box in the second.

Madrid dug deep, held on and now faces Bayern Munich in the semi-final after the Germans beat Arsenal 1-0 on Wednesday and 3-2 on aggregate. “Today it came down to mentality,” Bellingham said.

The defeat ended City’s bid to become the first English team to win back-to-back Champions League titles.