This game had everything. Goals, VAR drama, a winning goal in the dying minutes. It was a classic Champions League tie that provided entertainment from start to finish.
Jude Bellingham popped up in the box in the dying minutes of the game to latch onto a chipped effort from Vinicius Jr to condemn Manchester City to a loss in the first leg of the playoff knockout round.
It capped off a strong performance from the English midfielder who controlled the final third well. He has started to come into his own in the attacking midfield role and it showed tonight as many of Real Madrid's attacks were funneled through him.
Manchester City were expected to be the underdogs. Madrid's strong form being combined with Los Blancos' Champions League nous and City's underperformance across the season led to an expectation that Madrid would win but it wasn't that simple for the 15-time winners of the competition.
City strike first through Haaland
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for City in the 19th minute. City's attack started with goalkeeper Ederson and within a matter of seconds Haaland was taking the shot that would give City the lead.
Josko Gvardiol was the key cog in the buildup as an excellent threaded pass to Haaland progressed the ball into the final third. Jack Grealish then found the ball at his feet and a perfectly chipped pass found the chest of Gvardiol who had marauded up the pitch to cushion the ball perfectly for his Norwegian teammate.
The goal was followed by a lengthy VAR check which only served to show the absurdity of the technology. It took four minutes to come to the same conclusion that the assistant referee on the far side of the pitch had already decided on.
Misfiring Mbappé
City's performance was characterized by a lack of intensity but it was not punished as Kylian Mbappé was misfiring more than an old Jaguar. He finally scored in the 60th minute with his fifth shot but even this was a miskick as his shinned effort looped over Ederson before finding the net.
Madrid then proceeded to have the majority of the chances in the second half and forced City to sit deep.
But on one of their rare forays forward City were rewarded for their strong defensive efforts with a penalty after Dani Ceballos clattered Phil Foden right on the edge of the penalty area. Haaland did what he does best and dispatched the penalty with ease to put City a goal up with 10 minutes to go.
City, however, had their hand bitten by one of their former players when Brahim Diaz latched onto a rebounded effort and put a shot past Ederson to level the game. City looked as if they could have seen the game out but this goal put that notion to bed.
And then Jude Bellingham made sure the aforementioned notion was tucked up, sound asleep, with a bedtime story for good measure when he arrived at the back post to win the game for Real Madrid.
This game was an instant classic although Pep Guardiola won't be happy that his team were on the negative side of the game. This is the fourth time this season that they have lost from winning positions, which is more than the previous five years combined.
Carlo Ancelotti, meanwhile, knows that this will make the second leg an uphill battle of Sisyphean proportions for Manchester City. Going to the Bernabéu at any time is a tough proposal but being a goal down in the Champions League against the greatest club to grace the competition? It doesn't get much harder than that.
