Manchester City could have sent the visitors packing in the first hour but Karim Benzema’s Panenka sets up Bernabéu return
ith a quarter of an hour gone at the Etihad Stadium, on a night when this entire lighted stage seemed to ripple and shudder, Phil Foden did something lovely. Haring off in pursuit of a high, lost, floated pass destined for the bleachers, Foden scampered on, feet battering the turf, calibrating angles and arc, and pulled that floated pass out of the sky like a man charming down the moon with a stick.
Just over an hour later on the same side of the pitch, Karim Benzema paused, walked up to the penalty spot and sent the ball once again up into that soft Manchester air, completing another gentle arc over the prone form of Ederson.. And in the padded seats in front of the press box the Madrid contingent leapt up and roared and punched the air, not so much celebrating as laughing, peacocking, flushed with a kind of affirmation. Yes, we are Real Madrid. This is us. This is how we do this thing.
Nothing was settled here. There is no sensible way to read a game like this, or to predict what might come in the second leg. It is simply a case of purring over the details, the beauty of those moments.Photograph: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images City were slick and crisp early on. With two minutes gone Riyad Mahrez took a pass with that special Mahrez swizzle-touch, the touch, a snap of the underside of his boot, and simply veered in through Madrid’s entire left side. Had they never seen Mahrez play?. That is his channel. You can practically see his footprints. Mahrez looked up and curled in a training-ground pass for Kevin De Bruyne to head the ball down and into the corner.
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