Real Madrid shocked Manchester City with a 3-0 win in the first leg of the Champions League last 16. Federico Valverde scored three goals in the first half.
Kylian Mbappe and other important players were not there for Los Blancos, but Uruguayan midfielder Valverde scored three goals in just 22 minutes to destroy Pep Guardiola’s team at the Santiago Bernabeu, according to AFP.
Vinicius Junior missed a penalty kick in the second half, which could have helped Madrid extend their big lead before the second leg in Manchester next Tuesday.
Madrid has won the Champions League 15 times, but their shaky history made it hard to believe they would win so easily in what has become a modern classic.
City won the competition for the first and only time in 2023. They even overcame Madrid in the league phase and have gotten better since then.
But the Spanish giants put on their best show of the season exactly when it counted most, leaving the Premier League visitors speechless.
Alvaro Arbeloa, the coach of Madrid, had to do without injured talents like Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, and Rodrygo Goes, among others. He started 18-year-old midfielder Thiago Pitarch after some good games recently.
Arbeloa stated he was expecting a few surprises from Guardiola, who used to manage Barcelona. The Catalan chose a very attacking lineup in order to take advantage of Madrid’s weaknesses this season.
Guardiola chose only two central midfielders and left Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki on the bench. Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi played their first Champions League games, and for a short time, it looked like City was getting used to the Bernabeu.
Trent Alexander-Arnold did a good job of keeping Erling Haaland away from the goal until Semenyo made the opening stop for Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
Courtois fired a long ball down the field toward Valverde, and Madrid seized the lead against the run of play.
Nico O’Reilly made a mistake, and the Madrid midfielder ran right through on goal. Gianluigi Donnarumma, the goalkeeper for the city, came out to attempt to stop him, but Valverde got around him and rolled home in the 20th minute.
Madrid’s captain scored again seven minutes later. Vinicius Junior sent the ball to the midfielder, who calmly shot past Donnarumma to give the home team a two-goal lead.
Arbeloa’s arrival in January has freed Valverde after a tough first half of the season when he usually played right-back under Xabi Alonso.
The 27-year-old scored a last-minute winner for Celta Vigo in La Liga on Friday and remarked that the result boosted the team’s spirits.
It seemed like he was trying to be hopeful before the City game, when most people thought Madrid would lose. But Los Blancos played like a team that had regained their faith again.
Last but not least
Before halftime, Valverde scored his first career hat trick, with the best of the three goals.
Valverde skillfully flipped Brahim Diaz’s pass over the hapless Guehi and then volleyed it home with style, making the Bernabeu crowd go wild.
Finally, they witnessed a Madrid that they knew: lively and, most importantly, competitive.
Diaz almost scored a fourth goal soon after halftime, but Donnarumma stopped him. City had a hard time after the break.
Vinicius should have scored when the Italian goalkeeper took him down in the box, but Donnarumma saw what the Brazilian was trying to do and saved his low penalty.
Madrid center-backs Antonio Rudiger and Dean Huijsen held Man City’s top scorer Haaland quiet all night, and Guardiola took him out even though he was trying to score.
Instead, O’Reilly had the finest chance to get one back for City as Pitarch lost focus, but Courtois made an amazing stop with his leg to keep the score at 0–0.
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