Rudiger scored the penalty that secured the win for Real Madrid
Pep Guardiola insisted he had “no regrets” after watching Real Madrid knock his Manchester City side out of the Champions League on penalties on Wednesday, but the thought of what might have been should take a while to get over.
There were points during the quarterfinal second leg at the Etihad Stadium, with Real Madrid camped in their own penalty area, when it seemed debatable that they would cross the halfway line again, let alone progress to the semifinals.
But City’s missed chances meant the match ended 1-1 after extra time, after a pulsating 3-3 draw in the first leg.
That led to a penalty shootout, and from there anything can happen.
City were chasing a double-treble after last season’s successes in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup and had reached a stage in the campaign where it appeared genuinely possible.
Guardiola batted away questions like irritant bugs in his prematch news conference on Tuesday, saying the prospect of back-to-back trebles was “far away” and, in the end, he was proved right. But sitting top of the Premier League table, into the semifinals of the FA Cup, and favourites to beat Real Madrid after a 3-3 draw in the first leg last week, there will be a nagging feeling that something almost unimaginable was within their reach.
Real Madrid, 14-times winners and now semifinalists 12 times in 14 years, have the Champions League pedigree, but City were by far the better team over the two fixtures and dominated the game on their home turf. Guardiola’s team made 424 passes in the final third compared to Real Madrid’s 38 while registering 33 shots over the 120 minutes to Real Madrid’s eight. The Spanish side didn’t win a corner until midway through extra time, and from half-time onwards it looked very much like Carlo Ancelotti and his players were desperate for penalties.