Manchester City were unable to stop the brilliant Karim Benzema as his two goals kept Real Madrid firmly in their Champions League clash against the Premier League side, who won 4-3 at the Etihad Stadium.
After Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus fired City into a 2-0 lead early on, Benzema excellently stroked home a volley from the edge of the to halve the deficit.
But the classy Benzema had other ideas
The strike prompting talkSPORT’s Adrian Durham to say: “Ballon d’Or incoming, surely?”
Phil Foden restored City’s two-goal lead with a header early in the second half before Real Madrid pulled one back thanks to Vinicius Jr’s excellent run and finish.
A stunning effort from Bernardo Silva appeared to give Pep Guardiola’s men a two-goal lead going into the second leg but Benzema had other ideas.
The Frenchman, who now has 41 goals for Real Madrid this season, did it in style as he brilliantly made it 4-3 with a Panenka penalty, a strike labelled ‘unbelievable’ by talkSPORT’s Trevor Sinclair.
City may regret not making the most of a number of early opportunities as they stormed out of the blocks. They could almost have put the tie out of sight in the opening half-hour but Real, after fine comebacks against Paris St Germain and Chelsea in the previous two rounds, fought back again.
Real were sluggish and sloppy and continually left spaces for the hosts to exploit. Some of Foden’s touches were exquisite and De Bruyne’s throughballs were a constant danger.
It was De Bruyne who got City off to the dream start, heading their opening goal after just two minutes from a Riyad Mahrez cross.
And Jesus doubled their lead on 11 minutes
The atmosphere crackled and City took further inspiration, doubling their lead nine minutes later.
Foden showed great control before laying off to De Bruyne, who drilled a low ball into the box for Jesus. The Brazilian had his back to goal but, buoyed by the four-goal haul against Watford that earned him a place in the side, was too quick for David Alaba. He turned sharply, wrongfooting the defender and blasted a low shot past Thibaut Courtois.
City went close again as Oleksandr Zinchenko fired wide and Mahrez infuriated manager Pep Guardiola by hitting the side-netting rather than squaring for Foden, who later shot wide himself.
Yet as well as City were playing, they did look vulnerable at the back. Guardiola’s gamble in rushing back John Stones from injury to play at right-back in the absence of Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker also backfired.
The England international struggled and was caught out as Benzema crossed and Alaba glanced a header wide.
City failed to heed that warning and Real scored through the same route, this time Ferland Mendy crossing for Benzema to divert in, the strike labelled ‘outrageous’ by Sinclair. Stones was replaced by Fernandinho moments later.
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Benzema did brilliantly to adjust his body and slot in the bottom corner
City upped the tempo after the break and hit the post through Mahrez. Foden’s follow-up attempt was blocked by Dani Carvajal but he made no mistake in the 53rd minute as he got on the end of a fine cross from makeshift right-back Fernandinho to head City’s third.
Yet again from a position of control, City allowed Real back into the game. Vinicius turned Fernandinho out wide and was too quick for the rest of the defence, racing into the box to slot into the bottom corner.
It could even have been 3-3 soon after as Eder Militao found space but aimed his header at Ederson.
Such was the tension that Guardiola was booked for coming out of his technical area.