Manchester City and Real Madrid are arguably the two defining clubs of the past decade. Both have reigned over their respective domains—the Premier League and the Champions League—with unprecedented supremacy. Clashes between the two have become annual rituals that determine which one can claim the title of the best team in the world. But while most of the the names and faces of the current City-Madrid tie are familiar from those iconic matches of the recent past, if Tuesday's first leg of their UCL knockout playoff reminded us of anything, it's just how far below their usual standard these teams have been this year, specifically at the back.
The upside of both team's defensive frailty is that Tuesday's match was a banger for neutrals and haters alike. Because this is still Real Madrid, the visitors ended up winning a 3-2 barnstormer, scoring twice in the final 10 minutes of play to win a match in which they went down a goal twice. One can chalk it up to the infamous Madrid black magic—my dad did soon after the match, texting me "Es la Champions. Todos juegan, gana el Madrid." ("It's the Champions League. Everyone plays, Madrid wins.")—but it was more straightforward than that. While City is mired in a season-long funk up and down the field, Madrid still has the most potent front four in world soccer, and the quartet of Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius, Jude Bellingham, and Rodrygo all either scored, notched an assist, or, in Rodrygo's case, generally terrorized the opposition even without contributing directly to the scoresheet.
The irony here is that the match actually started in reverse of its eventual narrative. In the first 18 minutes, it was City's defense, bolstered with five center backs in the starting lineup, that held strong against a Madrid barrage, one that kept culminating in poor finishes from that star-studded front line. City goalie Ederson deserves props, because he was massive to start the match. (Spoiler: He would eventually return those props before the match was over.) In the 11th minute, Vinícius hit a perfect turn with the ball near midfield and then slotted a near-perfect through ball to an onrushing Mbappé. Though the angle wasn't ideal, you would've expected the Frenchman to hit the back of the net, but Ederson did well to corral a rocket of a shot. A minute later, in a bit of foreshadowing, Ederson got caught out of position as Ferland Mendy and Rodrygo played a sloppy yet effective one-two that ended with Mendy shooting at Nathan Aké. City's alarm bells were ringing, but the shaky defense did just enough, and soon the more vaunted attack did its job.
In the aforementioned 18th minute, it was Madrid's defense's turn to start the slip ups. After Erling Haaland wrangled a long ball and handed it off to Jack Grealish, the English winger hit a lofted ball into the box, and Madrid's defense completely forgot about Josko Gvardiol, a natural central defender playing left back who has surprisingly been one of City's best attackers all season. The big man chested Grealish's cross down into the path of Haaland, who made no mistake with a far-post shot for the opener.
The rest of the first half played out mostly the same. Madrid kept charging at the City goal with a fluid attack, only to be let down by some combination of last-ditch tackling, poor finishing, and Ederson's shot-stopping. Still, though, for both sides, a 1-0 scoreline entering half wasn't the worst thing in the world. City could be happy with its lead, while Madrid could find encouragement in the ease with which it was creating chances, the kinds of chances that eventually turn into goals and points, especially for Madrid, especially in this competition.
And yet! It was City that would knock on the door first in the second half, with Haaland hitting the post about 30 seconds in. Credit to City, which has often this season seen its complacency while ahead lead to capitulations: Rather than sitting back and focusing on soaking up all of Madrid's pressure, the Citizens kept looking to punish Real's makeshift back four, which due to injuries featured two natural midfielders (Aurélien Tchouaméni and Federico Valverde) and a recently promoted academy player (Raúl Asencio). Unfortunately, though, City's front-foot approach couldn't shore up its leaky defense, and if you give a player of Mbappé's caliber enough chances, he will eventually make you pay.
The seemingly inevitable did finally happen in the 60th minute. A Valverde free kick hit the wall and fell to Dani Ceballos, who spotted Mbappé making a run into open space. Aké completely lost the one man he absolutely couldn't lose in the box, and though Mbappé had a rather comical mishit on his finish, he got enough on it to direct the ball into the far side of the goal and even the score.
The goal had an immediate effect on the match flow. In the next six minutes, Madrid repeatedly peppered Ederson's goal only to either find the Brazilian's mitts or, in Valverde's case, narrowly miss the far post. Somehow, City held fast and kept the score level, and again, the hosts would be the ones to strike next. In the 77th minute, Ceballos clattered into Phil Foden just inside the box, a clear foul that Foden cleverly turned into a penalty by stepping into the area just before Ceballos crashed into him. Haaland converted the spot kick, and if the score had finished 2-1, I don't think either team would have been all too disappointed.
But Madrid has always had a thing for late European comebacks, and this cursed City side cannot stop gagging up late goals, so the fireworks were only beginning. In the 86th minute, Ederson, who went from Man of the Match to Goat (not the all-caps kind) of the Match in a little less than 10 minutes, found himself in a great position to block a wide-angle Vinícius shot, but the goalie couldn't get his arms up in time to parry the ball away from danger. Instead, the shot rebounded off his chest and fell directly into the path of former City attacker Brahim Díaz, who bounced the ball into the back of the net. Ederson was doubly at fault for the goal; the attacking play started from a terrible goal kick decision, in which the Brazilian aimed his pass at a very under-pressure Rúben Dias, who could only knock the ball into the path of Jude Bellingham.
Six minutes later, Ederson would mess it all up again, with some help from Rico Lewis. Mateo Kovacic ill-advisedly kicked the ball back to Lewis while the Englishman was under severe pressure from Vinícius, but for as bad an idea as Kovacic's pass was, Lewis's error in not clearing the ball or clattering Vinícius was the graver one. Vinícius took the overmatched Lewis's gift and charged at Ederson. Instead of sitting back and forcing Vinícius into a difficult shot, Ederson ran out into the middle of nowhere, giving Vini time to execute a simple chip shot that Bellingham ran onto and popped into the net for Madrid's 3-2 winner.
That's five goals from two highly esteemed and talented teams, and I'd be hard pressed to say any of the five were not due to a severe defensive lapse. (Perhaps Haaland's opener is the closest; while Madrid did lose Gvardiol in the box, that's more excusable than whatever City was doing on all three Madrid goals, or Ceballos mistiming his tackle in a dangerous area for the penalty.) For Madrid, this result sets the return leg at the Bernabéu up nicely, though the defensive lapses that led to City's goals will have to be ironed out, either next Wednesday or before heading deeper into the competition.
As for City, well, I don't know how many times we can expect them to flip the switch back before realizing that it's probably just not going to happen. This is who City has been all season, and its Champions League campaign might end in the most emblematic of ways. Even if City manages the nearly impossible—eliminating an advantaged Madrid, in Madrid—the squad is not playing well enough from top to bottom to add a second Champions League trophy to its cabinet. The top of that equation played more or less well enough to win, but when the bottom is prone to such calamities, a winning match can turn into a waking nightmare very quickly.
