Man City pounce on Varane mistakes to dump out Real
Manchester City took good thing about two shocking mistakes by Raphael Varane to beat Real Madrid 2-1 within their Champions League last 16 second leg on Friday and advance to the quarter-finals as Pep Guardiola arrived at the top in his duel with Zinedine Zidane.
The Frenchman had never been knocked out of Europe's elite club competition as Real coach, leading them to three consecutive victories between 2016 and 2018 in his first spell before returning to the job this past year.
But Madrid have been left with a mountain to climb in this tie after throwing out the cause lose 2-1 in the first leg in Spain in February, prior to the coronavirus forced the competition into hibernation.
The same defeat at an empty Etihad Stadium means it is City who advance 4-2 on aggregate.
Without Sergio Ramos due to suspension, Real were undone by mistakes by their other first-choice centre-back.
Varane was dispossessed inside the box in the ninth minute allowing Raheem Sterling to put City ahead, and his poor headed backpass attempt gifted Gabriel Jesus another goal midway through the next half.
Before that second goal the tie had been in the balance with the in-form Karim Benzema having scored for the visitors right before the half-hour mark.
The circumstances could be highly unusual, but that is still City's finest Champions League result, their most crucial victory in a knockout tie.
"We beat a high team, the very best club in this competition so for all of us it really is massive," Jesus told BT Sport.
City's best performance in the competition remains a run to the semi-finals in 2016, when they went rather limply to Real.
Now, with only two former winners still involved with Bayern Munich and Barcelona, City should very possibly be looked at the favourites to win your competition in Lisbon on August 23.
If indeed they do so, the victory would taste all of the sweeter coming so soon after their successful appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport against a two-year ban from Europe passed down by UEFA for Financial Fair Play breaches.
They have qualified for next season's tournament after coming second in the Premier League however now they can anticipate facing Lyon in the quarter-finals next Saturday at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Real, meanwhile, are certain to get over this.
They have dined out on success in the Champions League recently but their main objective after the coronavirus shutdown was to win La Liga plus they did that.
"I think we get nine out of 10 because of this season," said Rodrygo. "We don't deserve 10 as a result of the Champions League but we've still had a great season."
Zidane's team overhauled Barcelona because of 10 successive victories after La Liga returned in June nevertheless they were not especially prolific before goal during that run, despite Benzema's fine form.
- Uphill struggle -
It was already going to be an uphill struggle for them in the absence of Ramos, sent off late in the first leg, and their task became even harder once they conceded an early on opener.
City's high pressing paid as Varane was barged off the ball in his own area by Jesus, who squared for Sterling to roll in.
There was a reply from the 13-time European champions, though, with Benzema and Eden Hazard forcing saves from Ederson before their equaliser found its way to the 28th minute.
An excellent move ended with Benzema feeding Rodrygo and the young Brazilian clipping in a cross from the proper for the Frenchman, who rose above Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho to head in from the edge of the six-yard box.
It was his 65th goal in the Champions League, putting him one free from Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski on the entire list and behind only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Raul.
Unfortunately for Real, Benzema had not been able to increase that tally which tie was effectively ended by another Varane blooper.
The Frenchman struggled with an awkward high ball downfield and his header back towards Thibaut Courtois was short, allowing Jesus to prod it beyond the goalkeeper and in to the net.
Real will not go back to Lisbon, where they won the Champions League in 2014, however the dream remains alive for Guardiola and City.
