The Pep Guardiola switch that sparked Man City and Real Madrid’s Champions League epic

On such nights, the Champions League remains the gold standard. It was the sort of game that gives the competition magical, mystical properties, the kind that will be marvelled at for years. It was seminal and special, a match of six goals, five of them arguably outstanding, of two stunning comebacks, of a blistering first half by Real Madrid and a sublime turnaround orchestrated by Pep Guardiola ended with the tantalising prospect of a return fixture next week, the reality that one of these terrific teams will be eliminated.

Which? At different points first City and then Real felt on the brink of suffering a blow that, if not a knockout, would probably leave them too wounded to prevail. Now the advantage probably lies with the defending champions, simply because the second leg is in Manchester. Yet an evening that showed cracks in their aura of invincibility ended with the feel of a triumphant affair. A test was passed, even without victory.

It was partly because of the way Guardiola changed the game with his half-time reshuffle, but partly also because of the quality of their goals. The magnitude of the occasion and the calibre of the opposition meant that each of Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol should savour more than just his long-range shooting, impressive as it was.

For Silva, there was the sense that Real’s nemesis last season, the architect of their 4-0 evisceration at the Etihad Stadium, remains big-game Bernardo, designed for this occasion. For Foden, a 22nd goal of his extraordinary season was proof that Jude Bellingham will not be the only young Englishman to light up the Bernabeu this season. For Gvardiol, signed as the second-most expensive defender ever, it was both quite a way and quite a place to open his City account.

And yet Real had offered City a reminder that they are the toughest team to kill off; short of demolishing them 4-0, they are invariably a threat. In this tie, like the 2022 semi-final, they conceded after two minutes. In each, they mustered a quick one-two of goals, though their comeback came rather earlier this time. And when it seemed Gvardiol was destined to be the Bernabeu matchwinner, Fede Valverde delivered a volley of remarkable technique. Carlo Ancelotti may yet end this season with his seventh European Cup as player and manager and Real with their 15th.

In an astonishing first quarter of an hour, and interrupted by an own goal, they traded goals from the men who determined their recent semi-finals, the 2022 rescuer Rodrgyo, the 2023 hero Silva.

The Portuguese struck first from a free kick. Andriy Lunin was configured to expect the cross. With quick thinking and expert execution, Silva shot instead, catching him by surprise with a 30-yard whip that went in off the near post.

Yet soon the benched Kevin De Bruyne, omitted after vomiting, was not the only City player feeling sick. Real went from a deficit to a lead in the blink of an eye. Eduardo Camavinga’s shot took such a sizeable deflection off Ruben Dias that it both wrongfooted Stefan Ortega and was debited to the defender. Then, with City’s high defensive line caught out by one pass from Vinicius Junior. Rodrygo raced clear, rolled a shot through Manuel Akanji’s legs and passed Ortega; a slow-motion finish was inch-perfect.

Then City were reeling, Real rampant. The roof of the Bernabeu was closed, to keep the atmosphere generated in these cavernous stands in. There was no escape for City in a torrid first half, from the whistles and the jeers from the stands, from the relentlessness of Ancelotti’s players. City looked too open; they were not supposed to be the Manchester team who allowed the opponents shots. They lacked control, the quality Guardiola prizes most. He restored it with a rejig for the second half, moving Silva into the middle, pushing John Stones further forward, getting more bodies in the midfield. It was Guardiola’s damage-limitation strategy, but it actually propelled City into a lead.

While Real had scored twice in four minutes earlier, City delivered two in five. That it was Stones with the assist for the equaliser was no coincidence. Given a more advanced role in the half-term game of musical chairs, he was on the edge of the Real box to tee up Foden to unleash an unstoppable shot that flew past Andriy Lunin. Such is Foden’s progress that it was no shock he seized such a stage.

Yet City’s third wonder goal came from a player who owed his place to Nathan Ake’s absence. The cruel interpretation is that Gvardiol’s first touch was so poor his second had to be superb. It was, a rising right-footed shot from 20 yards bound for the top corner. Briefly, it seemed he would be the match-winner but then Vinicius’s deep cross was met by Valverde, angling a volley past Ortega. Real had the final say but City, with evidence of Guardiola’s brilliance transforming a tie, may be marginally the likelier to continue in the competition. But after such a crazy game, who can be fully sure?