Manchester City rally to beat Real Madrid 2-1 at Bernabeu

MADRID, Dec 10 : Nico O'Reilly's opportunistic strike and Erling Haaland's penalty helped Manchester City to fight back to beat Real Madrid 2-1 in a tense Champions League contest at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Rodrygo opened the scoring with a low shot from a counter in the 28th minute, with City looking exposed almost every time Madrid ventured forward for the first half an hour.

But Madrid pressed the self-destruct button, first when goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois spilled a relatively easy header from Josko Gvardiol, with O’Reilly converting the rebound in the 35th minute.

Then, eight minutes later, defender Antonio Ruediger conceded a penalty by wrestling Haaland to the ground as he went to meet a cross in the six-yard box, with the Norwegian striker making sure with the resulting penalty.

The victory pushed Pep Guardiola's side up to fourth in the Champions League standings with 13 points from six games, while Real Madrid dropped to seventh with 12 points after suffering their second straight defeat in all competitions.

The Bernabeu crowd voiced their discontent with manager Xabi Alonso, jeering throughout the match as Real continued a poor run of form, having now won just two of their last eight games across all competitions.

"It wasn't enough, we go away very frustrated. We had a great first half, we wanted to start strong, we scored... we need to improve," Rodrygo told Movistar Plus.

"These matches are decided by details, set pieces... that's why it's frustrating for us because we train for it and it happens but anyway we have to keep going."

Despite missing eight injured players, including top scorer Kylian Mbappe — who only made the bench after skipping training on Tuesday — Real Madrid started strongly.

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