Manchester City piled the pressure on Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso with a 2-1 win on Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League.
Speculation about Alonso’s future dominated the build-up to the game, and there was no respite for the former Spain midfielder as City came back from a goal down to win at the Santiago Bernabéu. After Real Madrid saw an early penalty overturned by VAR, Rodrygo opened the scoring in the 28th minute when the Brazilian finished off a well-worked move which began deep in the home side’s half.
But City recovered from a slow start to score twice in eight minutes at the end of the first half.
First, Nico O’Reilly tapped in from close range after Thibaut Courtois slipped Josko Gvardiol‘s header from a corner. And then referee Clement Turpin was back at the screen to award City a penalty for a clumsy challenge from Antonio Rüdiger on Erling Haaland.
Haaland tucked away the penalty and although Real Madrid created plenty of pressure in the second half, they couldn’t find a way through as they slumped to a second home defeat in the space of four days. It’s now just two wins from eight games for Alonso’s team, with his position seemingly hanging by a thread. — Rob Dawson
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Madrid competed, but is it enough to save Alonso?
Pep Guardiola had one piece of advice for Alonso in his Tuesday news conference: do things your way.
A day later at the Bernabéu, in the biggest game of Real Madrid’s season so far, Alonso did exactly that. If Alonso is to lose his job as Real Madrid coach, he might as well do so by picking a team he believes in and playing the football he wants to play, without compromise. That meant Gonzalo García, Alonso’s FIFA Club World Cup favorite, coming in for the injured Kylian Mbappé. It meant Federico Valverde playing as a reluctant right back, whether he likes it or not.
It meant Dani Ceballos coming into the midfield, with Arda Güler benched. And on the wing, Alonso kept faith in Rodrygo, despite his 32-game goalless streak. For much of this defeat, the players at least appeared to be playing for their coach, although it probably helped that it was a Champions League night, against a big name in annual rivals City, and facing Madrid’s public enemy number one, Guardiola.
Right from the start, there was a noticeable, crowd-pleasing effort to work hard out of possession, pressing City, and looking to win the ball high up the pitch, an Alonso trademark which had been seemingly forgotten — whether by accident or design — in Madrid’s slump in form in recent weeks.
After just two minutes, Madrid won a free kick on the edge of the box — initially given as a penalty — which sprung from Jude Bellingham winning the ball in a dangerous position. Three minutes later, as City broke forward, Valverde raced back to cover. Four minutes after that, it was Bellingham working to dispossess Bernardo Silva.
Then came the first-half flurry of goals, as Madrid’s lead was cancelled out. The second half started with Madrid looking bright, although there were worrying opportunities for City, too.
The reaction from the Bernabéu crowd to Alonso’s substitutions suggested the fans have doubts about the coach. His first change, after an hour, withdrawing fan favorite Garcia for midfielder Güler, was met with a bemused, questioning silence, with the team chasing a goal.
The noise when Ceballos was withdrawn for Brahim Díaz was similarly subdued. Only when Endrick was thrown on for a defender, Raúl Asencio, with 10 minutes left, did the Bernabéu roar. Madrid pushed for an equaliser to the end. They competed with City. This was a defeat, but it wasn’t an embarrassing one. And that might just be enough to keep Alonso in his job, at least for the time being.— Alex Kirland
City prove Pep’s point
Guardiola said at his news conference in Madrid on Tuesday that City are «in a little bit of transition.» You can understand why.
So often for big games in the Bernabéu, he’s had Éderson, Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gündogan and Kevin De Bruyne. Now, they’ve all moved on.
Only three players who started the Champions League final in 2023 — Haaland, Silva and Rúben Dias — also started against Real Madrid on Wednesday. This is a new-look team and ahead of the game, Guardiola said he wanted his players to «prove» they could perform on the big stage.
They answered with City’s first win here since 2020.
O’Reilly, only 20, was superb at left back up against Rodrygo, who had a good game. Jérémy Doku, 23, was a constant menace on the left wing and caused Valverde, stepping in at right back for Real Madrid, a lot of problems, particularly in the second half. Guardiola’s feeling is that the Bernabéu is a great test of a team, and City passed the examination. — Dawson
No Mbappé, but Rodrygo belatedly steps up
Mbappé was on the bench, but speaking prematch, Alonso made it clear there was little chance of him making an impact tonight. «Kylian isn’t fit to play,» Alonso told Spanish television. «There’s a risk.»
Without him and his nine Champions League goals this season, Madrid’s prospects of finding the back of Gianluigi Donnarumma‘s net looked slim. Rodrygo hadn’t scored in nine months going into Wednesday’s game. Garcia hadn’t scored in five months. Even Vinícius Júnior hadn’t scored in two months.
But if Rodrygo — who has looked completely lost in recent weeks — was going to score against any team, it had to be City. He’s always found another level in the Champions League, scoring twice as frequently in the competition as he does in LaLiga, and he’s scored more goals against City than any other side, with two goals when the teams met in 2022, and another two in 2024.
Now add 2025 to the list. His goal was a vintage Rodrygo finish, struck low across goal from the right-hand side, a position he personally doesn’t enjoy. A 32-game drought over, you could see the relief in his celebration. There was a hug for Alonso too, a recognition that the coach had kept faith, when few others had.
But the goal didn’t disguise Madrid’s lack of attacking threat. Garcia’s all-around play was good, but he had no shots in his hour on the pitch. Rodrygo had two shots, and Vinícius had four. This was nothing like the volume of chances that Mbappé usually guarantees.
Madrid looked most dangerous in the last few minutes, with Endrick on the pitch — his header hitting the bar — but it wasn’t enough. Any team would miss Mbappé’s quality, and Madrid here were no exception. — Kirkland
Set pieces taking the pressure off Haaland
It was a slow start for City’s new set-piece coach, James French, who arrived from Liverpool in the summer. There was a point at the start of November when City were the only Premier League team not to have scored from a set-piece, but that’s all changed in the last few weeks.
When Josko Gvardiol headed in Phil Foden‘s corner against Sunderland on Saturday, Guardiola immediately turned and pointed to his coaches on the bench with a beaming smile.
The goal against Real Madrid wasn’t quite as clean, but they all count. It was Gvardiol again who won his header from Rayan Cherki‘s corner and O’Reilly was in the right place at the right time to finish it off after the ball had come back off Courtois.
Courtois should have done better, but Guardiola and French won’t care.
City have now scored four goals from set-pieces in their last four games. It’s a big bonus for Guardiola, who admitted earlier in the season that his team had to find ways to take some of the pressure to score goals off Haaland’s shoulders. — Dawson
Madrid pay for defensive injury list
You can’t criticize Madrid’s defending in this game — which was often found wanting, with Courtois getting them out of trouble, making six saves — without mentioning the absentees. And it’s a long, long list.
Dani Carvajal, Éder Militão, Dean Huijsen and Ferland Mendy would be an elite first-choice back four, and that’s without mentioning Trent Alexander-Arnold and David Alaba. Of Madrid’s starting backline, only Álvaro Carreras was expected to be a weekly starter at the beginning of the season.
That said, Rudiger is still a vastly experienced, international defender. Valverde can be an exceptional stand-in right back, and Asencio has mostly performed adequately when called upon. And here, they had to deal with Haaland, plus the pace and trickery of Doku and Cherki.
Of the four, Carreras excelled, delivering one of the most impressive performances of his Madrid career to date, offering composure on the ball and helping the team progress up the pitch when he wasn’t focused on defending. Valverde did his job, and Asencio just about coped. But Rudiger committed a characteristically needless foul on Haaland, for the penalty that ultimately cost Madrid the result.
City had 12 shots, creating two «big chances», for an xG of 2.54. Given Madrid’s injuries, perhaps that isn’t really too bad a showing. And they’ve relied on Courtois to get them out of trouble in even bigger, more consequential games than this. — Kirkland
City still looking for defensive stability
There’s no question that this City team is capable of scoring goals. They’re the Premier League’s top scorers with 35 and have found the net 13 times in their last four games in all competitions.
The problem they’ve got is keeping them out at the other end.
Guardiola’s team have kept just two clean sheets in their last 11 games. They kept out Sunderland on Saturday — despite some shaky moments early in the second half — but Manchester United are the only team in the top six who have conceded more than City’s 16.
They were fortunate to get away with the penalty incident in the opening two minutes — overturned by VAR — after both Gvardiol and Silva were caught on the ball in the same passage of play.
Rodrygo’s goal was poor, too. It started when Silva lost out to Carreras in the corner before Real Madrid were able to work the ball from back to front without City making a challenge.
City deserve credit for withstanding Real Madrid pressure at the end, but Guardiola will want to cut out the sloppiness which was on show for the first 30 minutes. — Dawson
