De Bruyne stunner earns Manchester City 1-1 draw at Real Madrid

 

Kevin De Bruyne netted a stunning equaliser with a rasping low strike to give Manchester City a 1-1 draw against Real Madrid on Tuesday.

In their UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg, the Manchester City midfielder powered home from distance in the 67th minute.

That was after Vinicius Jr had opened the scoring in the first half with an equally sumptuous strike.

Manchester City dominated the match in the early stages but it was Real Madrid which took the lead.

Vinicius netted a brilliant curling effort from the edge of the area which flew into the top-right corner with Real Madrid’s first shot on target in the 36th minute.

The holders got back on top in the second half and took control, but it was Manchester City who scored.

That was after they won possession high up the pitch and worked the ball to De Bruyne who drilled in with the outside of his boot.

His effort helped to leave the tie poised ahead of next Wednesday’s second leg.

But it was a frantic encounter at a sold-out Santiago Bernabeu.

The home fans spent the first half hour of the match on the edge of their seats as Manchester City started strongly.

Real Madrid struggled with Manchester City’s relentless pressure and the visitors dominated proceedings early and maintained control as the first half progressed.

Pep Guardiola’s team enjoyed a staggering 75 percent ball possession for a large part of the first half.

By the halfway point of the opening period Manchester City had recorded six attempts, with four on target, compared to none from Real Madrid.

But the hosts slowly started to get a foothold in midfield and started to test Manchester City on the counter, with Vinicius moving to a more central position.

He lured markers away from touchline and created space for Eduardo Camavinga.

After Camavinga and Vinicius combined to create two half-chances, they nailed a textbook counter-attack.

Camavinga burst down the left touchline and passed to Vinicius, who let fly with a missile from outside the area which shot into the corner of the net.

Real Madrid got on top in the second half and almost scored early on when Karim Benzema fired wide.

The France striker seemed off the pace, making uncharacteristic errors and misfiring with several attempts on goal.

It was after a poor pass from Benzema that Manchester City stopped another Real Madrid counter-attack.

After recovering the ball high up the pitch following a poor attempt at a clearance by Camavinga, De Bruyne netted the equaliser.

Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson made two critical saves to keep the scores level ahead of next week’s return encounter.

“The tie remains open… we played a good game. They had possession early, yes, but no real chances…

“Too bad about the goal, we had more chances than they had,” Luka Modric said.

“I don’t think anyone goes to the second leg with a mental edge.

“It’s an open tie, we already knew that this wasn’t going to end here at Santiago Bernabeu, that nobody was going to take an advantage to kill it today.

“The tie, before this game, was 50/50 and now, it’s still the same.”

(NAN)