Manchester City already had one foot up on the pedestal, but Rodrygo’s goals for Real Madrid in injury time crashed and burned their dreams. After an interesting matchup between Liverpool and Villareal, it was only fair that Manchester City and Madrid would also bring out the big guns. With Rodrygo scoring a couple to push the match towards extra time, Karim Benzema’s late penalty sent the La Liga winners straight to the finals. And it was quite fitting that Benzema would be the one to score the last goal- considering the monster form he has been the entire season.
Real Madrid Will Play Liverpool In The UCL Finals
Manchester City held the reins for the games for the longest time possible. With Riyad Mahrez scoring a late second-half goal, City would have reached the finals if Jack Grealish would have taken up one of the chances and converted them. But it was apparently not their day, for young starlet Rodrygo burst in with two late goals, after which Benzema, who surprisingly had a quiet game, fired one straight into the net. Incidentally, this would be Real Madrid’s first appearance in the UCL final post the Cristiano Ronaldo era.
After Mahrez had scored for City and extended the goal deficit to 2, even some of the most ardent Real Madrid fans started streaming out of the Santiago Bernabeu. But as we all know, there is no point in writing Madrid out until the final whistle blows. The side from Spain was all set to make an exit, but the last six minutes changed the entire dynamic. Previously, they had no shot on target, but the last 6 minutes had Ederson hanging on to the ball by the edge of his fingertips to stop Madrid from extending the lead.
As it is the norm for Manchester City, they seem like they simply don’t have the mentality to win the Champions League. Every single year, Pep’s team has been knocked out by Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham, Lyon, and now Real Madrid. With a team filled with superstars, one can almost expect the team to get one title out of so many chances.