Until the 90th minute, Manchester City had marked its passage to the grand final of the Champions League. They won 1-0 with a goal from Mahrez 33 minutes into the second half and had three more chances to finish off the match and the semi-final amidst the imposing silence of the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. But in the discount the epic happened again. As happened against Paris Saint Germain in the round of 16 and against Chelsea in the quarterfinals, Real Madrid puffed out their chests and tied the series with two goals from the Brazilian Rodrygo in one minute. With the 2-1 they went to extra time and after 4 minutes, City’s Portuguese defender Rubén Días committed a penalty against Karim Benzema and the French striker, with enormous hierarchy, scored the 3-1 from eleven meters and put Madrid in a new Champions League final, in which they will seek to consecrate themselves as European champions for the 14th time.
Real Madrid and Liverpool will play on Saturday the 28th at the Saint Denis stadium in Paris in an extraordinary definition. Soccer-wise, Jurgen Klopp’s team has reached this instance with an authority that Carlo Ancelotti’s team has not had, who arrived suffering and after three series of enormous emotional consumption. But it is precisely in this field, more than technical, tactical or football, in which Madrid is unbeatable. The shield and history weigh, of course. But there are also great players and a squad willing to leave every last ounce of energy on the pitch in order not to lose. They feel invulnerable and are responsible for letting their rivals know.
Pep Guardiola left the pitch in awe. Without being able to believe that once again the Champions League that he so aspires to win again had gotten out of hand. City did almost everything right with the ball at their feet. But the same thing happened to him as in the first leg in Manchester: with everything served, he could not define the game. When another English final was looming, from the bottom of history the epic in Madrid exploded and gave shape to a heart-stopping classification and another match that will be hard to forget.
