A first-half Bernardo Silva brace saw Manchester City make short work of Real Madrid to join Inter in the final. Rarely has a Champions League semifinal been so one-sided. Rarely have Real been so thoroughly outclassed.
There were two surprising things about Bernardo Silva’s 23rd-minute strike. The first was that the Portuguese midfielder was afforded so much space in the Real Madrid penalty area as he fired the ball past Thibaut Courtois.
The second was that it was Manchester City’s first goal of the evening and not their fourth, so utterly dominant were Pep Guardiola’s team up until that point, and beyond, as they steamrollered the Spanish giants to reach the Champions League final for the second time and keep their Treble dreams alive.
Perhaps it was Carlo Ancelotti’s plan to have his team sit deep, soak up City’s early pressure and take the sting out of the game. More likely, they were given no choice.
It took just seven minutes for Erling Haaland to round Courtois, only for the Norwegian to find the angle too narrow for a shot. Five minutes later, the 22-year-old did get a header on goal, forcing Courtois to save unconventionally with his hip. The Belgian’s next save was even better, somehow twisting and stretching to tip another Haaland header around the post.
And it didn’t stop. The sky blue waves kept coming, intense, incessant and suffocating. Real couldn’t get out of their own half. The match ended 4-0, with a Silva brace, Manuel Akanji header and Julian Alvarez finish in the bottom corner as Madrid suffered a humiliating defeat.
City will now face Inter Milan in the final of the 2023 UEFA Champions League, scheduled to be played on 11 June at Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Istanbul.
