There will come a point during the second leg at the Etihad Stadium when Manchester City will need to weather some form of storm again. Even if they dominate the game, and Real Madrid happily cede ground, Vinicius Junior will have a say at some stage.
Pep Guardiola’s side earned the right to negotiate a way back into the tie, secured by Kevin De Bruyne’s stunning equaliser, by riding out their difficult spell, which came in the 20 minutes after half-time.
What City did in the Bernabeu on Tuesday night was something they failed to manage in the same building site of a stadium this time last year. When they were pressed back, City’s defensive unit stood tall. Last year, they caved.
Real looked primed to find a second goal, with presentable opportunities to fashion chances, but there were the last-ditch efforts – a John Stones block, a Kyle Walker tackle to prevent more damage. City have not conceded more than one goal in a game since the middle of January now, a run of 24 matches.
Guardiola will re-watch the first leg over the coming days but believes he has already seen enough to come up with a slightly different plan to give City the best possible platform to reach another final.
Guardiola has said in recent weeks that his defenders are better at defending in one-on-one situations this season and that helps in offering the City boss licence to pack midfield with more trust of what is behind.
It is probably unlikely that he will go for more direct attacking players however, with Bernardo Silva a preferred choice on the right wing ahead of Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez.
Foden might be the one to unlock that if the game becomes more stretched, although a theme with Guardiola is that he largely insists on sticking to the plan. Tuesday night was the first time since 2007 when a manager has not made a single substitution in a Champions League semi-final, with only Julian Alvarez warming up for the final 20 minutes.
Silva offers a more measured option when retaining possession as they move through the thirds and is a safer bet against opposition who can devastate on the counter attack. But making sure Erling Haaland is more active will be of paramount importance and to help with that.
‘We will try to adjust something maybe in the second leg to be more fluid and play with a bit more rhythm,’ Guardiola said. ‘[Antonio] Rudiger was so close to Erling and it was not easy to find spaces.’
And it will come as some disappointment to them that they were unable to capitalise on set-piece situations. Forcing seven corners yielded nothing by way of potential goalscoring moments and it is one of the very few areas that has not markedly improved since Haaland’s arrival.
There ought to have been more to show for City’s efforts in the opening half-an-hour of what was pure dominance. There were sightings of goal without truly carving Real open. City have 22 goals from dead ball situations this year, excluding penalties, and that is broadly in line with the 28 scored in all competitions last season. With someone of Haaland’s physique at their disposal, it is an area that can be worked on further.
Given City’s stellar charge towards the end of this campaign, their rivals could do without any additional corrections to make them any more potent. Too many times De Bruyne’s crosses were overhit beyond the back post. One in the second half went short and appeared dangerous only for the Belgian to then clip it straight out of play.
