Julius Okorie
Manchester City’s slightest chance of qualifying for Champions League last 16, was finally nailed on Wednesday night after Kylian Mbappe’s hat-trick ensured the EPL champions were knocked out on 6-3 aggregate.
City’s possibility of crashing out of the race was all written on the wall even before the second leg clash on Wednesday night having lost the first leg 3-2 at the Etihad.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe first leg had seen City put up spirited effort despite losing the battle. Pep Guardiola’s side had been leading the tie heading into the 86th minute of the first leg before conceding two late goals. But there was no such competitiveness at the Bernabeu as Real Madrid showed their superior pedigree.
After the game, Guardiola was in a conciliatory mood, telling TNT Sports: “We accept it. The best team won so congratulations Real Madrid and now we focus on the Premier League.
“It’s the first year we didn’t make a good Champions League season, and we accept it and fight for next season to be here again.
“We were so lucky to be for many years in this competition, we were so satisfied to win it once, arrive at the final in another one. We have to accept that right now, this season, we are not close enough to be there, and we’ll see what happens in the future.”
Mbappe wasted no time in putting the hosts ahead. It was a simple ball over the top that caught Man City out and, after a slip from Ruben Dias, the striker kept his composure to lob the goalkeeper inside four minutes.
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Things went from bad to worse for City in the aftermath too, as John Stones after a challenge was taken off injured
Real Madrid continued to rack up the chances, with Mbappe beating Dias again to double his lead in the 34th minute. The final icing on the cake came on the hour.
An elated Carlo Ancelotti hailed his team for simply doing the needful what it mattered most. The team according to him struggle with defences sometimes, but on this occasion was simply superb.
“Our goal was to be good defensively and we have a lot of quality in attack. We’re not always able to defend as a block but in these two games we did it and we had the quality” he told TNT Sports
“Mbappe is a fantastic player, we have a lot of quality when they are able to connect to Jude Bellingham we are really dangerous. That happened in the two games, we had lots of opportunities against a really good team.”
Asked whether he was surprised that Manchester City turned out to be a soft nut to crack on the night, Ancelotti simply said “A little bit”
In another Champions League play-off Wednesday night, French Ligue 1 giant, PSG, took helpless Brest to the cleaners, grabbing an emphatic 7-0 victory to claim a slot in the Champions League last 16. PSG had won the first leg 3-0 thus progressing on 10-0 aggregate. Draw for the last 16, holds tomorrow, February 21.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
