Manchester City, in the 5th round of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League league phase, beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Xabi Alonso reverted to Carlo Ancelotti’s template and punished City for their sterility

Real Madrid are doing fine in the Champions League, but three draws and a defeat in their last five La Liga matches have put the team on the verge of collapse. Barcelona are already four points clear, and the media are buzzing with reports of strained relations between the squad and the coaching staff. Ahead of the clash with Manchester City, the Spanish press even started pushing the narrative that the Basque coach’s fate would be decided here and now.

The favourites were the “Citizens”, who are in excellent form. The “Blancos”, meanwhile, were hit by serious injury problems – Militao and Camavinga joined Trent, Alaba, Carvajal and Mendy in the treatment room. Despite these absences, Xabi Alonso dared to play without Mbappé (who isn’t fully fit either). Ceballos covered for Camavinga, while reserve Gonzalo García and Rodrigo – on a nearly 10-month goal drought – started in the attacking trio.

Another surprise was Real’s complete rejection of ball possession. The “Royal Club” rolled back to Carlo Ancelotti-era settings, keeping possession at 30-35% and looking for chances on the counter-attack. Guardiola, on the other hand, prepared a different model – overloading the ball zone, keeping wingers in central vertical channels and abandoning traditional width in attack.

The idea was combinations in narrow spaces where a large number of stars would play “rondo” with the Madrid players. True, Pep was wary of doing this permanently given the danger of Madrid’s counter-attacks. The Catalan tried to bring the full-back closer to the half-space, but O’Reilly is no Zinchenko. His positioning closer to the centre didn’t help the attack much, yet it opened up space for Real’s diagonal balls.

That’s why the English tactician’s team ended up with a hybrid model – there were plenty of overload episodes, but everything started (and often ended) with the classic structure.

There was just one problem – in both models Manchester City remained sterile. Despite 70% possession, the visitors managed only one blocked long-range shot in regular time of the first half. During that period they didn’t even have a single shot from open play, only attempting shots from set pieces.

At the same time, the team made a huge number of turnovers and lost duels. Particular problems came against Carreras, who didn’t care about any pressure – he rarely let himself be beaten, often won the ball back and instantly launched counter-attacks. Manchester City, with their dominance on the ball (and therefore more mistakes) and desire to overload zones, found themselves in a very vulnerable position, leaving huge spaces for Madrid.

It all resembled the classic Ancelotti vs Guardiola battles. And this battle looked set to end with a home win in the first half…

Real tore City apart on the counter. Rodrigo the hero

The “Blancos” didn’t create a huge amount, but they were claiming a penalty as early as the second minute. Vinícius could have won it after picking up the ball following a successful counter-press and being fouled by Nunes. However, the referees – even without VAR – saw that the contact happened before he entered the box.

Valverde’s subsequent free-kick deflected off the wall and wrong-footed Donnarumma. Gigio was lucky the ball flew just past the right post!

On 7 minutes Real caught Manchester City on the break (far from the first time), finishing with a switch to the right flank and a low cross from Rodrigo. None of the defenders reached the ball, allowing Vinícius to finish from inside the box. The Brazilian spared City by trying to chip Donnarumma and missing.

On 28 minutes Xabi Alonso’s men opened the scoring, again with a quick counter-attack. It was started by Carreras, who dispossessed Bernardo Silva and laid it off into the pivot zone – where Gonzalo García had dropped once again. The forward quickly found Bellingham, who surged forward and played a pass behind O’Reilly.

Rodrigo took it down and smashed it from the right edge of the box. Bottom far corner! 1-0. Thus, Rodrigo scored for the first time in 9 months and 7 days. The Brazilian winger was just two minutes short of breaking a nearly 50-year-old club record for minutes without a goal.

On 33 minutes García held up a long ball from Carreras and nodded it down for Vinícius. The Brazilian waited for Bellingham’s run into the left channel and threaded him through, but Dias blocked the subsequent cut-back.

An illogical turnaround

Manchester City had created absolutely nothing the whole time, and Haaland hadn’t even had a touch of the ball. It looked like the teams would go into the break with at least a 1-0 scoreline, but on 35 minutes City equalised. A corner helped the visitors.

Gvardiol outjumped Jude and powered a header down between Courtois’ legs. For the record, Josko attacks every set piece and scores very often. Thibaut parried it in front of him, but O’Reilly was fastest to the rebound. 1-1!

And three minutes later Manchester City won a penalty. The previously lethargic Haaland battled with Rüdiger. Before the corner was taken, Erling stopped using his arms, but Antonio kept holding the Norwegian until the very end – and brought him down.

After a VAR review, Clément Turpin pointed to the spot, and Haaland confidently beat Thibaut. 1-2! Haaland’s run had been created by a penetrating pass from Doku and a low cross from O’Reilly. Both had an excellent game at the Bernabéu.

However, the penalty incident caused outrage, because in the move leading to O’Reilly’s goal there was an identical situation – only there Dias had fouled Rüdiger in mutual holding. The Madrid crowd and players demanded the goal be disallowed, but Turpin ignored the protests.

Just before half-time Manchester City could have killed the game off. Now it was the hosts who were caught on the break, finished by the previously invisible Haaland. Once again, credit to the Doku–O’Reilly link-up.

Erling met the cross from the left flank and smashed it towards the far corner from 10 metres – Courtois saved, then also denied Cherki’s follow-up! In the end, the teams went in at 1-2.

Madrid collapsed in an uncomfortable game pattern

Real had executed the counter-attacking model almost perfectly – a model familiar from Ancelotti’s time and naturally comfortable for the team. Only now the hosts had to seize the initiative: press high, play long positional attacks and open themselves up. With the current defence and without Mbappé, Xabi Alonso’s players found it extremely difficult, so few believed in a comeback.

And no miracle happened even after the introduction of Güler, Endrick and Brahim Díaz. Real’s only notable moments were three attacks that ended with poor execution. On 50 minutes Rodrigo started another counter and played Bellingham into the right channel, but Jude tried to chip the keeper and cleared the bar as well.

The next chance didn’t come until the 80th minute when Vinícius found himself unmarked at the far post to meet a corner. The Brazilian attempted an acrobatic scissors kick but sent the ball into the sky. On 85 minutes Endrick met Carreras’ cross with a header from the goal-line – the crossbar saved City! That was all the danger they produced.

Manchester City, meanwhile, repeatedly caught Real on the break and created several clear chances, but Courtois was alert. In the end, the final whistle confirmed the visitors’ victory.