Man City player ratings v Real Madrid – One scores 8/10 as five get 7/10

Manchester City were eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday, losing to Real Madrid on penalties at the Etihad.

Last season’s European champions dominated the quarter-final second leg and amassed 33 shots to eight, as well as 68 percent of possession. But the famous Real Madrid came to the the Etihad with one plan: stay compact and frustrate the opposition.

It worked. Rodrygo gave Madrid an early lead and as City huffed and puffed, they could only manage one in response via Kevin De Bruyne. Tied at 4-4 after 180 minutes, extra-time couldn’t separate the sides, and it ultimately took penalties for a winner to be determined. It was Antonio Rudiger who provided the decisive moment from the spot as Madrid won 4-2 in the shootout.

It was a nervy start at the Etihad, with no shots inside the opening 10 minutes. Yet, with the first real chance of the game, the visitors took the lead.

Jude Bellingham, Federico Valverde and Vinicius Junior all combined inside the City half, with the latter swinging a dangerous cross into the box to the waiting Rodrygo. The Brazilian, who netted in last week’s fixture, fired his first effort right at Ederson but followed up to tap in the rebound.

City responded well from the setback as Erling Haaland twice went close from headers. The second crashed agonisingly off the crossbar and Silva couldn’t react in time to steer home after the ball bounced at his feet.

The early goal had set the pattern of the game with Madrid sitting deep and looking to break via Vinicius and Rodrygo, while City dominated possession but found it impossible to break down Madrid’s watertight set-up. Kevin De Bruyne did force Andriy Lunin into a stop on 27 minutes when he curled an effort from the edge of the box towards the bottom corner, while Rudiger’s recovering run and block prevented Jack Grealish from scoring on the break.

City continued to push in the second half and Grealish twice saw shots saved, while Josko Gvardiol’s header was cleared by Eduardo Camavinga from just a few yards out. But those chances proved to be in vain as City habitually moved the ball from side to side in search of an equaliser, but simply couldn’t find a way to penetrate the Madrid rearguard.

It was a rare mistake that resulted in the European champions getting back on level terms as Rudiger – City’s nemesis in the Champions League in the past – failed to deal with Manuel Akanji’s cross into the box, and when the ball fell at the feet of De Bruyne he smashed it into the roof of the net.

The Belgian could have won the game in normal time with two more chances as he curled over in the 78th minute from distance and skied a shot from 12 yards soon after – a chance he should really have converted.

But with the score level at 1-1 (4-4 on aggregate) after 90 minutes, the game went to extra-time. There were few chances in the added-on period with both sides exhausted after an intense encounter. Rudiger went closest when his near-post shot hit the wrong side of the netting, while Julian Alvarez fired right at Lunin in the final minute of extra time.

No goals meant penalties. Silva and Mateo Kovacic missed for City and only Luke Modric failed to convert his spot-kick for Madrid. It was Rudiger who netted the final penalty to send Los Blancos into the next stage and City crashing out.

Here’s how we rated the City players…