Real Madrid v Manchester City: Champions League quarter-final, first leg

City push down the right again, but this time they take the patience too far, eating up stoppage time. Real, far more direct, charge upfield, but they can’t get a shot away either.Phil Foden, who has been less visible than usual, gets busier. A patient move eventually finds Grealish, who slips Rodri in on the overlap. He plays a nice chipped cross, but Haaland climbs on one of the two men marking him and gives away a foul. There will be three added minutes.

Or he does until he is greeted by Pep Guardiola, whereupon a hug and a warm smile are exchanged. The sorcerer and the other sorcerer.“There’s part of me that wanted to say ‘haha 4-D-2 is that some kind of fancy new algebraic formation’ and there’s part of me that’s wondering if it actually is...” Ha. D is for diamond – I’ve picked it up from Rob Smyth, as it makes the point more crisply than 4-1-2-1-2.

Kevin De Bruyne starts on the bench, where he may have steam coming out of his ears. Ederson stays among the subs too, so Stefan Ortega starts in goal. Mateo Kovacic joins Rodri in the pivot, and Jack Grealish edges out Jeremy Doku on the left. Up to a point, Lord Guardiola. Last year felt like the turning of the tide. Real had only squeezed past City in the 2022 semi-final by the skin of their teeth, relying on goals from Rodrygo in the 90th and 95th minute to scrape into extra-time, then winning a penalty to complete their comeback from 0-1 to 3-1.

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