Gabriel Jesus of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Brentford and Manchester City at Brentford Community Stadium on December 29, 2021, in Brentford, England.
Arguably the best team in the world, Manchester City, took on Real Madrid in the first game of the first leg of the semifinals. The two teams came out fighting but Manchester took home the win after defeating Real Madrid 4-3.
There are four teams left to compete head-to-head in this year's Champions League semifinals -- Liverpool. Manchester City. Villarreal. Real Madrid. And the first game to commence was riveting.
Within the first stretch of the period, City's Riyad Mahrez made a great run down the right side of the field, cut inward and booted to Kevin De Bruyne, who headed the ball in past Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois.
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De Bruyne has once again proved his relentless rigor, making this his 11th goal during his Champions League career. His first three goals came in 2016 -- one in the Group Stage against Sevilla and one goal in each leg of the quarterfinals over Paris Saint-Germain. He followed that up with a goal in the Group Stage in each of the subsequent two tournaments. His sixths and seventh goals came in the 2019-20 tournament -- a penalty in the Round of 16 against Real Madrid and a quarterfinal goal over Lyon. He scored three goals in 2021 -- one each round from the Round of 16 to the semifinals. Earlier this month, De Bruyne delivered in a big way, recording the only goal in either leg of the quarterfinal against Atlético, which brings us to the 2022 semifinals..
What a start for Manchester City – leading the game 1-0 within the first few minutes.
Oh, but that’s not all. Goal number two was not far behind. De Bruyne assisted the ball to Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus who immediately scored, racking up the score to 2-0.
Jesus has now scored in each of his three games for Manchester against Real Madrid in the Champions League. His first two goals were in the 2020 Round of 16 and now his success has poured into the 2022 semifinals.
Real Madrid were falling short after Manchester’s two early goals, but they proved themselves as Karim Benzema raised the score to 2-1 after scoring with about 15 minutes left in the first half.
Benzema has scored 40 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid this season.
At the start of the second half, Real Madrid lost possession within the first few minutes allowing Phil Foden to score yet another for Manchester, upping the score to 3-1.
And just a few minutes after, Vinícius Júnior of Real Madrid came through with another goal to soften Manchester's lead, making the score 3-2.
Bernardo Silva unleashed a fierce shot on his left foot into the top corner, upping Manchester’s lead to 4-2 after Zinchenko drew the foul.
There are no breaks in scoring today. Shortly after Silva, Real Madrid struck again with another goal from Karim Benzema, upping the score to 4-3.
One of the most compelling games of the season came to a close shortly after, with Manchester City taking home the first win of the semifinals.
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Manchester will take on Real Madrid again next week for the second leg of the semifinals on Wednesday, May 4 at 3 p.m. ET.
Villarreal and Liverpool will face off for their first leg of the semifinals tomorrow on Wednesday, April 27 at 3 p.m. ET.
