In the first fourteen minutes, three goals. assaulting in both directions. Incredible second-half hits.

Real Madrid and Manchester City drew 3-3 in a tҺrilling first leg of the quarterfinals on Tuesday, setting up an instant classic between the newest rivals in the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, remarked, “I imagine the fans enjoyed a game like this, with six goals.” “Both teams wаnted to аttаck, doing it in different ways, a bit out of control.”

Midway through the second half at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, City rallied through goals from Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol, each five minutes apart. However, Madrid responded through Federico Valverde’s equalizer in the 79th minute.

Two minutes into the game, attacker Rodrygo gave Madrid the lead, but City defender Rúben Dias’ own goal in the twelfth minute gave Madrid a response.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid stated, “We gave it our all and competed well. We are satisfied because we competed well and took at least a small advantage.” “If we do the same in the return match, we can come away victorious.”

Manchester will host the second match on Wednesday of next week.

These are the clubs’ third straight meeting in the Champions League knockout stages. In 2022, Madrid defeated City in the semifinals, whereas in the same stage the previous year, City triumphed over Madrid. After defeating their opponents, both teams went on to win the championship.

Despite a potential terror threаt from the Islamic State, the Bernabeu match proceeded as planned, with no initial reports of security incidents.

Tuesday’s other first-leg quarterfinal saw a 2-2 draw in London between Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

Silva’s low free kιck past the wall and near-post shot caught Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin off surprise to give City the early lead.

After Eduardo Camavinga’s effort from outside the area rebounded off Dias and caught City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega off guard, Madrid equalized.

After getting past the City defense and intercepting a pass from Brazil’s Vinícius Júnior in front of the area, Rodrygo gave Madrid the lead. After deflecting off the leg of a defender, Rodrygo’s strike slowly rolled past Ortega and into the net.

In the 66th minute, Foden struck a beautiful drive into the top corner to tie the score at two goals. Five minutes later, Gvardiol gave the visitors the lead once again with a strong strike into the far corner.

With a deft low volley from inside the area, Valverde equalized.

“We played exceptionally well in the second half until the final 10 or 12 minutes, but in the end we know that for Madrid the match is never over,” Guardiola stated.

Both Madrid’s 28-match winning streak in all competitions and City’s 26-match winning streak in all competitions were extended by the outcome. In the Champions League, reigning champion City has won 22 successive games.

Guardiola had to deal with playmaker Kevin de Bruyne’s last-minute unavailability due to illness, as the Belgian international had to be left out of the starting lineup. Despite warming up with the substitutes prior to the game and starting on the bench, De Bruyne puked after the team arrived at the Bernabeu.

Kyle Walker, the captain and first choice right defender, was also sidelined due to ιnjury for Guardiola, who also expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the pitch at the Bernabeu. However, Gvardiol, who had been deemed doubtful, began at left back and ultimately scored the game’s winning goal.

Since there were no Spanish league games this weekend, Madrid had eight full days to prepare for the encounter. City’s preparation for their Premier League match on Saturday was limited to two full days.

In the Champions League, Ancelotti made his 200th coaching appearance, breаking the previous record. In addition, he holds the record for most victories (114) and titles (4). It was his 59th match in the European competition as Madrid’s coach.

In an attempt to test the City defense, Ancelotti switched up the оffensive, exchanging Vinícius and Rodrygo, and it paid off as Madrid scored their second goal.

As he had in the 1-1 draw in the first leg between the clubs last season, Madrid defender Antonio Rüdiger performed admirably in restraining Erling Haaland once more. In the rematch, City triumphed 4-0 at home.