Real Madrid 3 Manchester City 1: Mbappe's best Bernabeu display ...

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The New York Times

Real Madrid 3 Manchester City 1 Mbappes best Bernabeu display

Real Madrid advanced through to the last-16 of the Champions League by beating Manchester City on Wednesday

Real Madrid advanced to the Champions League last 16 with a 3-1 victory — and a 6-3 aggregate win — against Manchester City on Wednesday night.

Madrid started the game in excellent fashion, with Kylian Mbappe latching onto a long ball over the top in the fourth minute before lobbing Ederson in the City goal. They then doubled their advantage in the 33rd minute, with Mbappe collecting the ball on the edge of the box before dribbling past defenders and finishing.

Mbappe continued his fine performance in the second half, wrapping the game up with another strike to put his team four goals ahead on aggregate. Nico Gonzalez tapped in a rebound late in the game to give City a consolation goal.

The Athletic’s Stuart James, Sam Lee, Anantaajith Raghuraman and Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero have analysed the game and put together their key takeaways.

Was this Mbappe’s finest performance at the Bernabeu?

Real Madrid supporters have been waiting for a night like this with Kylian Mbappe. That might seem like a strange thing to say when the Frenchman has 28 goals in all competitions and has scored in seven successive games at the Bernabeu. But Mbappe — a modern-day galactico — is expected to deliver much more than goals. Against Manchester City, he answered that call with a jaw-dropping performance that featured the 21st hat-trick of his career.

After all that talk of him making a slow and slightly underwhelming start at Real Madrid, you get the sense that everything is starting to fall into place for the No 9.

His first goal was a gift in some ways. City’s high line and a lack of pressure on the ball was a recipe for disaster. Mbappe, positioned between John Stones and Ruben Dias, ran onto Raul Asencio’s long ball and, with Ederson caught in no man’s land, effortlessly lobbed the ball over the City goalkeeper’s head and into the unguarded net.

There were less than four minutes on the clock and it was clear that Mbappe was in the mood. His movement was sharp and incisive. Another smart run in behind Dias, who was enduring a torrid evening, led to Mbappe stinging Ederson’s palms with a powerful shot from the edge of the area.

It’s easy and only natural to focus on Mbappe’s pace, but his second goal showcased his composure and dextrous footwork. Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo combined to tee up Mbappe, who expertly chopped the ball back inside Josko Gvardiol after threatening to shoot with his left foot, leaving the City defender prone. One swing of Mbappe’s right boot later and the Bernabeu was suitably entertained. Mbappe, however, wasn’t finished – a low left-footed shot, after he glided past Phil Foden with a trademark stepover, completed the hat-trick. This was his night.

Mbappe scores his second (TNT Sports)

Stuart James

How poor were City?

By Guardiola’s own admission, City have been, “really, really poor” for the past few months, but this was a new low. Perhaps the quality of the opposition should be taken into account, because Madrid are obviously good, but this was a toothless, lifeless display.

The positives from Saturday’s victory against Newcastle were wiped out within four minutes, or perhaps that should be as soon as it became known that Erling Haaland would not be playing. It felt then that City would be robbed of any kind of focal point and that is exactly how it panned out.

City’s other weaknesses have been evident for months — they are an “old team”, as Guardiola says, with a slow midfield and injury-ravaged defence (Stones went off injured soon after Mbappe’s first) — but on this occasion, their attack was not up to much at all. Whenever they advanced with the ball, the attack usually petered out with an errant pass or rousing Madrid tackle.

Their most coherent move of the match led to a corner that Thibaut Courtois caught and bowled out into the middle of the pitch, ending with Mbappe scoring his third. City barely turned up here.

Sam Lee

Guardiola reacts during Wednesday’s game (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

How badly did City struggle out of possession?

Renowned for their play out of possession in the Guardiola era, this was arguably City’s worst display in that regard, though it has plenty of competition from what has been a poor season.

Their initial structure at the Bernabeu saw Phil Foden line up out wide on the right, with Savinho operating between him and Omar Marmoush at centre-forward. But none of the three pressed with the vigour we have seen from City teams of the past and even dropped off Thibaut Courtois. The structure also meant City were lopsided in their press, focusing too much on cutting out the left side of Madrid’s defence rather than the right, with a midfielder in Fede Valverde playing at right-back. Mbappe’s opener came from that side, after both Aurelien Tchouameni and Dani Ceballos dropped between the centre-backs, pulling Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva forward. With no pressure on him, Raul Asencio lofted a simple ball forward that Ruben Dias misjudged, allowing Mbappe to lob Ederson.

That should have been the wake-up call but it was not. Madrid continued to enjoy time and space in midfield, repeatedly bypassing City’s front five of Savinho, Foden, Marmoush, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva without breaking a sweat. Much of City’s pressing looked resigned and lacklustre even before Mbappe’s second goal, which punctuated Madrid’s dominance further. City won just 32 per cent of their duels in the first half, their worst record in the first half of any Champions League or Premier League game this season.

Guardiola changed things up to start the second half with Foden pressing Courtois more actively, but it did not last long and Madrid found straightforward solutions. More passive defending, with seven City players back and not one closing down the impressive Fede Valverde or Mbappe, allowed the France international to complete his hat-trick.

If not for Dias’ crucial interventions and a couple of stunning Ederson saves to deny Mbappe and Vinicius, this could have gotten much uglier.

Anantaajith Raghuraman

City’s pressing was questionable (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

How important is Valverde to this Madrid team?

It was clear who the night’s headline act was, but it is hard to overstate Federico Valverde’s importance for Madrid.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side have experienced injury problems in defence all season. Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal are both out with long-term knee injuries. This has often seen Ancelotti turn to a makeshift backline — and this time it was Valverde’s turn to fill in at right-back, with Carvajal’s deputy Lucas Vazquez only just back from a hamstring problem.

It is just one of several roles Valverde has played for Madrid, including central midfielder, right winger and defensive midfielder — and, as ever, the 26-year-old Uruguayan stepped up. Wearing the captain’s armband, he was regularly at the heart of Madrid’s moves up the pitch and cleared up what little danger there was from this City frontline, as shown by his player dashboard from the game.

The only question is when Valverde is given a rest. He is by far Madrid’s most-used player this season and Vazquez has struggled in Carvajal’s absence. On this evidence, Ancelotti will be turning to Valverde in that position a lot more.

Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero

What did Carlo Ancelotti say?

Ancelotti told Diario AS: “We played very well. We managed a complete performance, especially defensively. We wanted to repeat the good things from the first leg. We controlled the opponent’s possession well. And then we showed our quality.

“We brought out the best version of ourselves.”

What did Pep Guardiola say?

Pep Guardiola told TNT Sports: “After we conceded the goal in the first action we didn’t defend well, it was more and more difficult. We have to accept it, the best team won so congratulations to Real Madrid. Now we focus on the Premier League.

“It’s a fantastic team, they deserve to go through. We didn’t deserve it, it’s the first year we didn’t make a good Champions League season. We have to accept it and fight for next season to be here again.”