Manchester City twice took the lead at the home of the Spanish champions only to capitulate at the hands of a forcefully motivated Real Madrid team. Dzeko and a late Kolarov freekick in the 85th minute pushed the points towards Manchester only for a Marcelo curler, Benzema shot and a 90th minute Ronaldo strike to give Real Madrid a deserved victory.
With a summer of sensational sport now over, the fight to advance in the Champions League has now firmly begun. Manchester City embarked on the mammoth task of conquering the might of Europe, and that’s only to get out of their group, by venturing to the fortress that is the Bernabeu to take on the emperor of football management Jose Mourinho and his Real Madrid men.
Mancini’s team was certainly set-up to attack with Nasri preferred to the hard working James Milner, who failed to even make bench. Yaya Toure was also pushed to a more advanced position in a bid to counteract Xavi Alonso’s potential grip on the match and attack with powerful surging runs.
Mourinho, surprisingly, went slightly on the defensive, dropping Ozil to bench allowing Michael Essien to make his first appearance for the club since joining on-loan this summer from the European Champions Chelsea.
However the big changes were in defence. Sergio Ramos was left on the bench due to alleged row with Mourinho, allowing Verdane to start. Whereas 19 year old Mattija Nastasic, nicknamed “the new Vidic”, was preferred to the experienced Joleon Lescott for City.
It was the Spanish Champions that started the brighter with Ronaldo firing two speculative shots within the first two minutes, clearly looking to add to his 150 goals in 149 appearances for Real.
City failed to learn from his warnings with only a splendid low save from Joe Hart preventing another Ronaldo shot after the Portuguese forward continued to shimmy inside past Kompany to steer the ball towards the bottom right hand corner of the goal.
City were exposed on the flanks as Aberloa and Marcelo constantly provided width for Madrid. Any brief moment of possession the English side did received was met with a fierce pressing game from a flood of white shirts.
Hart was forced to react again after a Di Marie chip found Higuain alone in the penalty area but the goalkeeper stood up strong to negate the opportunity.
In his advanced role Toure was struggling to get a grip on the match, unusually misplacing his passes on frequent occasions. Yet, wife Madrid’s high pressing game when Toure broke the initial influx of tackles then his solo runs looked extremely threatening.
On 35 minutes Samir Nasri was forced off with a calf issue to be replaced by Kolarov which turned into a blessing in disguise as the more defensive minded Kolarov cancelled the threat of the advancing fullback Arbeloa.
Xavi Alonso began to turn the screw, threading passes across the pitch for Real but it was another sudden charge from Yaya Toure, bypassing the entire Spanish midfield, that caused panic. Four Manchester City players were converging on two Real defenders only for Toure to provide a poor pass to Silva, giving defenders time to recover.
Di Marie chipped a pass to Higuain again but the striker could only poke the ball poorly over the bar from five yards to end the second half goalless.
Real Madrid had been energetic, pressing high on the pitch constantly, causing Mancini’s men to fail to keep possession through a mixture of misplaced passing and poor control. However, Real’s threat was lessening as shots from far outside of the box were becoming more frequent.
A quiet Javi Garcia received the first yellow card at the start of the second half despite winning the ball for a lung on Sami Khedira. Yaya Toure then caused immense problems, gaining a corner, after another surging run through the heart of the Madrid team.
With Arbeloa quieter on the right, Marcelo grew in confidence down the left, drilling two shots in quick succession inches passed Joe Hart’s goal.
In a bid to change the match Mancini brought on Dzeko to replace an ineffectual Silva and Mourinho switched Ozil for Michael Essien.
But it was Mancini’s team that finally got the break through when another powerful charge from Yaya Toure broke through the ranks to create a two on one. This time his pass was inch perfect and Dzeko calmly stroked the ball past a wrong-footed Casillas to put the away side 1-0 up after 69 minutes.
This only incensed Real Madrid who had never lost an opening game of the Champions League. Kompany received a yellow card as Ronaldo stormed towards goal in a bid to obtain parity within minutes. Alonso’s chipped free-kick was glanced over by Kolarov and Verdane’s header missed the goal from the resultant corner.
Mourinho made a double substitution bringing on Modric and Benzema for Khedira and a poor Higuain, whereas Mancini went defensive, replacing a limping Maicon for Zabaleta.
Toure once again found the legs to go forward but his first time shot from inside the area hit the side netting.
That miss proved vital as Madrid went straight up the other end, finding Marcelo in space. This time the fullback chose to step inside and curled the ball passed a diving Joe Hart to equalise.
The game suddenly became extremely frantic as both teams searched for a winner. Zabelate failed to connect with a Tevez cross and Hart kept out Benzema, Alonso and Modric.
In the 85th minute, Zabelate reacted quickest to a cleared corner causing Benzema to give away a freekick 40 yards away from the Madrid goal near the right hand touchline. Kolarov whipped a left-footed ball into the box causing it to skid off the surface and passed a helpless Casillas.
Manchester City’s celebrations were cut short though as one minute later Di Marie jinked past two players to find Benzema on the edge of the box. The Frenchman turned and angled his shot into the bottom corner of the goal to make it 2-2.
Madrid were not content with a draw though and only saves from Ronaldo, Benzema and Di Marie kept City level.
But then Ronaldo in the 90th minute finally beat a distraught Joe Hart after cutting inside Zabeleta and firing a shot over a dipping Kompany head. After 10 shots on goal, 7 on target the much loved Portuguese forward grabbed the winning to send the Bernabeu into hysterics.
Mancini insists that his side can win the Champions League this season but his team will need to recover strongly after such a disappointing, draining defeat. Mourinho believes that Manchester City will gain the title eventually, whether or not it will be with Mancini at the helm he is less decided. Either way, in this group of death, Mourinho’s Madrid have won the first battle against Mancini’s Manchester.
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