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Pep Guardiola had told his Manchester City players to be true to themselves. He had told them to trust in their own identity. He had asked them to look their opponents from Real Madrid in the eyes as they took the pitch at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and say: ‘This is who we are.’
The problem was, when City stared at them, Federico Valverde, Brahim Diaz and Vinicius Jr stared right back. And instead of being true to themselves, instead of playing like Guardiola’s great City teams of old, they played like impostors. If these players had looked at themselves in the mirror, the mirror would have cracked.
City were dismantled by Alvaro Arbeloa’s side in the Spanish capital, much as Spurs had been dismantled by Atletico Madrid in the Metropolitano the night before. Madrid won 3-0, thanks to a quite magnificent hat-trick from skipper Federico Valverde but it might easily have been more.
Madrid soaked up periods of pressure but when they had the ball, they tore City to pieces. In transition, in particular, City were powerless to stop them.
The home side cut through them like butter. It is not impossible that City will claw their way back into contention at The Etihad next Tuesday but it is close to impossible.
This, after all, was supposed to be a Madrid side that was vulnerable. This was a Madrid side without Jude Bellingham. This was a Madrid side missing Kylian Mbappe, the best player in the world. When City’s keeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma, was asked on the eve of the game if he was glad Mbappe would be absent, he said he was expecting a quieter night. Whoops.
Federico Valverde delivered the performance of his career, scoring a hat-trick in the 3-0 win
Valverde scored his three in the first half and Real Madrid have a commanding lead in the tie
It was a dreadful night for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, who have a mountain to climb
Donnarumma had a torrid night, just like most of his team. Erling Haaland was utterly anonymous, Nico O’Reilly struggled badly against Valverde, Rodri and Bernardo Silva were overrun in midfield and Marc Guehi’s Champions League debut was notable for being a prop when Valverde lifted the ball over him in the course of scoring his third goal.
This was a performance that reinforced the reality that this is not the City of the prime Guardiola years. This is a City that in the Premier League and now in the Champions League, seems to be blinking first in its battles for supremacy. This is a team that is still in transition, still struggling to reach the heights it scaled before.
It has been a chastening couple of days for English teams in the competition. English supremacy was supposed to be getting boring but by the time the final whistle sounded at the Bernabeu, not one of the six English teams had registered a victory.
Both teams had started brightly. Trent Alexander-Arnold picked his passes with the same style and panache that he displayed for so long at Liverpool and Vinicius Jr broke with menace and purpose, slicing through the City defence with his pace and his precision.
But Madrid looked vulnerable, too, and Jeremy Doku, on the City left, ran and ran at Alexander-Arnold in the opening exchanges and fizzed in a series of crosses that somehow managed to elude the final City touch they needed to be diverted into the goal.
City dominated the ball but when Madrid broke, they scythed through their opponents. The first clear chance of the game came when Vinicius Jr dinked a pass to Brahim Diaz and his instant left foot shot was well saved, low down, by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
City fashioned a clever corner 15 minutes in when Bernardo Silva swung a corner to the near post and Antoine Semenyo ran in to meet it before slipping at the crucial moment. City had the falling sickness, just as Spurs had in Madrid the previous night. Except by this stage, Spurs were 3-0 down.
It took City longer to go behind but Real took the lead on 20 minutes. Thibaut Courtois launched a devastating long ball out of his area and, as it fell from the heavens, Nico O’Reilly misjudged its flight.
Erling Haaland hardly had a sniff and was substituted late in the game for Omar Marmoush
Nico O’Reilly endured a difficult night in what has otherwise been a superb season
Federico Valverde stole in behind him and a beautiful first touch, on the full, took him on a perfect trajectory towards Donnarumma. Donnarumma rushed out but Valverde got to it first, pushed the ball around him and slid it expertly into the empty net from an angle.
A couple of City players consoled O’Reilly, who has been one of City’s outstanding players this season. It was a hard lesson to learn on the biggest of stages, something that poor Antonin Kinsky discovered rather more brutally at the Metropolitano on Tuesday evening.
Seven minutes later, City were 2-0 down. Vinicius Jr demanded the ball on the left and ran at the retreating City defence. He tried to play a pass behind the City defence and it took a deflection off Ruben Dias that pushed it into the path of Valverde. Valverde angled his shot across Donnarumma. Once more, it was unerring.
The cameras picked out Jude Bellingham, who is still recovering from injury, in one of the stadium’s private boxes, applauding happily and wearing the same expression of slightly surprised joy that was spread across the faces of the majority of the home fans. Most, including the bookmakers, had predicted a City win.
Three minutes before half-time, Valverde completed his hat-trick. This was the best of the three. More than that, it was a goal to grace any game, a feast of skill and confidence and verve and joy.
Diaz started it, lifting a beautifully delicate chip into the path of the Madrid captain as he ran into the area. Valverde took it in his stride and, with his first touch, he hooked the ball over the head of Marc Guehi. With his second, he volleyed the ball past Donnarumma into the far corner. What a goal, the kind it is a privilege to witness.
A couple of minutes into the second half, Madrid nearly made it four. Diaz ran at the City defence and dribbled through them. At the very last, his shot was parried by Donnarumma and as Vinicius Jr tried to force home the rebound, his shot was blocked.
City tried to force their way back into the game. Courtois spread himself to block Semenyo’s close range shot with his chest but with Real’s next attack, Vinicius Jr chased down a long ball and took it around Donnarumma. Donnarumma brought him down and was shown a yellow card. Vinicius Jr took the penalty, Donnarumma guessed correctly, dived to his left and pushed it away.
Instead of getting closer to Real, City seemed to be getting further away. They lost the ball time after time after time. They played themselves into trouble, they allowed Real to attack them at will and they struggled to contain them to three goals.
City did have one chance to pull a goal back when Thiago Pitarch dawdled on the ball in front of goal and allowed Nico O’Reilly to clip a shot off his toes from close range but Courtois stuck out a leg and produced a stupendous save to keep it out.
So much for Donnarumma’s quiet night. Mbappe will be back when Madrid fly to Manchester next week but maybe on Tuesday, instead of the strangers that took the field in Madrid, the real Manchester City will stand up.
