Softfootball understands that Manchester City has just added even more trouble to Xabi Alonso’s rough week, coming from a goal down to beat Real Madrid 2–1 at the Santiago Bernabéu, only their second win there ever, bouncing back from their 2-0 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen in their last Champions League game.
Manchester City celebrated the victory via their official X account.
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The match started with chaos pretty early. Inside five minutes, Vinícius Júnior went down after a challenge from Matheus Nunes. The ref pointed to the spot straight away, but then VAR said the contact was actually outside the box.
Valverde’s free kick flicked just past the post, and Vinicius then chipped another one barely over. Madrid was flying forward, while City kind of looked half-asleep for the whole opening stretch.
Madrid eventually made it count around the half-hour mark. A sharp counter ended with Rodrygo on the right, and he smashed the ball into the far corner. It ended a massive 32-game goal drought for him.
Manchester City, without doing much before that, suddenly woke up. A corner from Cherki caused problems, Gvardiol climbed above everyone, and after the ball bounced around, Nico O’Reilly poked it in from close range.
A few minutes later, the whole game flipped when Antonio Rüdiger basically dragged Haaland down in the box. The ref somehow didn’t see it at first, but VAR showed it clearly. Haaland, of course, buried the penalty with zero fuss.
Madrid tried pushing after halftime, but nothing really clicked. Jude Bellingham had the best early chance, only to dink the ball over the bar when he probably should’ve scored. Alonso tried to shake things up with subs, but the changes didn’t do too much at all.
Vinícius had two massive chances to equalise, both of them he’ll want back. First, a free header from like six yards out, then a volley at the back post that he sent over again. It just wasn’t his night.
The closest Madrid came after that was from Endrick, who almost saved the whole thing. His header smashed off the crossbar and bounced out, leaving the fans groaning. City were hanging on at the end, but they defended pretty solidly to secure the win.
When the whistle blew, the Bernabéu crowd let out loud whistles and jeers. And honestly, with two home losses in a row now, losing at home against Celta Vigo 2-0 in La Liga and now also losing against Manchester City, Xabi Alonso’s seat looks hotter than ever.
