A trip from Barajas Airport to Heathrow takes about two and a half hours on a direct flight. Real Madrid’s journey to London in the UEFA Champions League this season is not so straightforward. They must first overcome the mammoth hurdle in Manchester before even contemplating what might await them in Bavaria or North London. That’s enough geography; let’s get down to football now.
The new European classic that has developed between Real Madrid and Manchester City can sometimes be exhausting even to discuss. Perhaps there is no other European tie with margins so thin, stakes so high, and ideologies so generationally different. It’s hook after hook until there are no hooks left and not a single jibe throughout. The tension for this has almost become tangible.
Real Madrid finds itself in a situation similar to last year in many ways; yet, at the same time, it is different on many fronts. Since the elimination of away goals, the 1-1 scoreline at the Bernabeu last season equates to the 3-3 scoreline in terms of pure results. The game at the Bernabeu last season was less chaotic after Vinicius’ golazo. This season, in totality, the entire game was chaos and a half.
Last week, Real Madrid scored three against a depleted City defense that still cost more than the full starting XI of many top-flight clubs. Real Madrid also conceded three from distance, even without last season’s long-distance heartbreaker, Kevin de Bruyne, entering the pitch. It felt like a defeat last season, and it feels the same this season, as Fede Valverde rightly pointed out after the game.
The feeling of a defeat from what’s not really a defeat stems from what’s next. When Real Madrid lost 4-3 in Manchester in 2022, it felt like a win, because of what was next: the Bernabeu. Real Madrid had almost lost at the Bernabeu too before salvaging the win from the claws of defeat. It felt like a defeat last season, and it does this season because the second leg is away from home. The home team gets to maximize the atmosphere in their ground when the equation is already simplified to its barest bone—win and you are through. This puts you at ease, which then amplifies your other avenues to perform. Manchester City did exactly that along with being physically and tactically much better than Real Madrid.
There were times when Real Madrid had never won away at Bayern Munich, Chelsea, and Liverpool. All of that changed. What seemed inevitable at one time became routine wins at a different time. The size of the task this time around is as big as ever in the best case. The process of overcoming Munich, Anfield, or Stamford Bridge was grueling too. Having to face City one year after the gruesome defeat last year with the exact result equation is daunting. But even that’s not unprecedented.
Madrid lost to Bayern Munich in 2012 in possibly the most heart-breaking Real Madrid fixture of the 2010s. Their response to Bayern (of Pep Guardiola of all people) in 2014 was devastating. Madrid surrendered to Tuchel’s Chelsea in 2021 and broke Chelsea hearts in 2022 and again in 2023. The 4-0 defeat against Liverpool in 2009 has been avenged in every possible way imaginable across a whole decade. It’s doable. But we must also keep in mind the profiles of Real Madrid and their opponents during these campaigns. Real Madrid had been the underdogs for some of these ties, for some, the realities of the clubs were such that Madrid were clear favorites, and for the rest, Real Madrid and their opponents were rather evenly matched. So, they have done it in all possible situations. The away leg in Manchester this season cannot be outside these three scenarios.
Contrary to what happened last season, Real Madrid should be physically more capable of putting in the extra yards this season. Carlo Ancelotti has shown he too can surprise Pep by sending Rodrygo to the left and Vinicius through the middle, which created a volume of chances probably no one had foreseen. Real Madrid missed most of those chances, which firstly is a different story and secondly, is a margin that simply wouldn’t let Madrid survive in the second leg if they continue to be just as wasteful in front of goal.
For Manchester City, the simplification comes in the form of what they need to achieve in this game—regardless of the margin, a win would do it. For Real Madrid, the simplification or the complexity, whatever you want to call it, is also clear as daylight. Manchester City will come with all their might, all their force, all their worth and pour it in without notice like they did last season. But hang on, that is the notice itself. To defy the inevitable in Manchester, what Real Madrid needs to do first and foremost is to not be what they were last season.
