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Madrid: Kevin De Bruyne’s sensible drive earned Manchester Metropolis a 1-1 draw at Actual Madrid in a gripping Champions League semi-final first leg battle on Tuesday.
The Belgian slammed Pep Guardiola’s guests degree after Vinicius Junior opened the scoring for the reigning champions from distance in equally spectacular style.
Madrid managed to utterly shackle deadly striker Erling Haaland however De Bruyne’s highly effective effort left the tie on a knife edge forward of the second leg in Manchester subsequent week.
The file 14-time winners knocked Metropolis out on the identical stage final season regardless of being outplayed in each video games, and took the lead on the Santiago Bernabeu in opposition to the run of play.
Nevertheless when Madrid discovered their stride within the second half, Metropolis — nonetheless chasing their first ever Champions League trophy — hit again by De Bruyne.
“I don’t suppose anybody will really feel stronger, it’s an open end result, we knew it wasn’t going to finish right here, and the tie is 50-50,” Madrid midfielder Luka Modric advised Movistar.
“Once they had the ball, we had been sturdy, we held our floor, after the objective we improved in urgent and on the ball, it’s a pity about their objective.”
Guardiola chosen Kyle Walker at right-back to fight the pacy risk of Actual Madrid winger Vinicius, whereas Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti opted for Toni Kroos on the base of midfield.
Rodrygo, who struck two late objectives instead final season in opposition to Manchester Metropolis to pave Madrid’s passage into the ultimate, began after his Copa del Rey heroics on Saturday.
The guests managed a lot of the primary half, with almost 70 p.c possession, however went in trailing on the break.
Thibaut Courtois fielded an early barrage of pictures from De Bruyne, Rodri and Haaland, as Metropolis dominated and Madrid sat again, absorbing the strain.
Guardiola’s facet had been issued a warning when Vinicius received the ball excessive up the pitch and crossed for Karim Benzema however Ruben Dias made an excellent interception.
It was Madrid’s solely assault of observe after half an hour and though Metropolis had been peppering Courtois, it was the closest both facet got here, till Vinicius struck.
Madrid took the lead by a deadly counter-attack, with Eduardo Camavinga, enjoying at left-back, surging previous Bernardo Silva, tearing into area and feeding Vinicius.
The Brazilian arrowed a strike into the highest left nook from virtually 25 yards, previous Ederson’s helpless dive. It was Madrid’s solely shot within the first half, however the recreation’s simplest one.
– Haaland shackled –
Metropolis had been upset with a few of Madrid’s defensive aggression, notably Dani Carvajal’s makes an attempt at shackling Jack Grealish, together with slamming him into the promoting hoardings with out punishment.
David Alaba thwarted Haaland with a positive block early within the second half, as Madrid stored the Norwegian objective machine below lock and key on his first look in opposition to them.
Madrid didn’t permit him a transparent sight of objective, guaranteeing he couldn’t add to his 51 objectives from 46 video games this season throughout all competitions.
Madrid’s urgent was drastically improved after the break and so they pinned Metropolis again at instances, exhibiting much more initiative than they provided at first.
Nevertheless with Los Blancos ascendent, Metropolis sucker-punched them, simply as Madrid did to the Premier League leaders within the first half.
De Bruyne slammed the guests degree with a shot from the identical vary as Vinicius’s opener, on the identical finish, hammered low previous Courtois.
“He’s a large participant for us, he’s at all times been nice and he helped us within the second we most wanted it,” Rodri advised BT Sport.
“With this objective he provides us the arrogance to maintain pushing.”
Ederson palmed away a Benzema header and a vicious Aurelien Tchouameni effort within the remaining phases however, as Guardiola predicted earlier than the sport, the tie might be determined in Manchester.
The second leg takes place on Could 17, with the winner going through Inter Milan or AC Milan within the remaining.
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