'Boring' Man City learn from last season's silliness vs Real Madrid to give Champions League boost

Thirty-five minutes of near-total dominance at the Bernabeu could mean only one thing. Manchester City had been brilliant. They were completely dominant on the ball, Real Madrid's fans had been reduced to whistles as their side simply couldn't get near City, and it felt like a matter of time that the away side would score.

So naturally, as 'Typical City' tend to do, they conceded, and Real Madrid were ahead despite having just 28 per cent of the ball. City fans knew the score and had seen it all before.

In last season's match-up at this stage of the Champions League, City had scored twice at the Etihad in the first leg and were completely on top. That was until Karim Benzema scored, because he always does, and then pulled another goal back to stay in the tie at 3-2 and again at 4-3.

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In the second leg, when City were the better side again, City let Rodrygo score two heartbreaking late goals and force extra time from a position of complete strength. Maybe a big part of the regret of last season's defeat was the silliness that allowed Real to even have a chance of coming back in Madrid.

That's why there will have been nerves when Vinicius Jr sent his rocket beyond the helpless Ederson in the first half, and Madrid slowly used the dark arts to claw themselves into a position of strength themselves. The referee at the Bernabeu was doing his best to keep all 11 Real players on the pitch despite their convincing attempts to collect multiple bookings, and City were starting to get a little ragged.

Step up Kevin De Bruyne, then, who did his best Vinicius impression with a thunderbolt of his own to level the scores and give City a draw to take back