Zinchenko pinpoints Real Madrid strength Man City must combat in Champions League second leg

Oleks Zinchenko says Manchester City have learned a valuable lesson from their seven-goal Champions League thriller with Real Madrid. And the Ukraine international, one of the Blues’ top performers on the night, admits they need to work on the issues that cost them a convincing victory on the night.

City will take a 4-3 first leg lead to the Bernabeu next week, but after three times holding a two-goal advantage, and missing a host of chances, they are still only one conceded goal away from facing extra time as they chase a second successive Champions League final final. Real were outplayed for long periods in the game, but the genius of two-goal Karim Benzema and the pace of winger Vinicius Junior kept them alive in the tie.

City will be buoyed by the fact they won 2-1 on their last visit to the home of the 13-time European champions, and that last month Chelsea came close to pulling off famous aggregate win at the Bernabeu, winning 3-2 in the away leg after a disastrous 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge.

ALSO READ: Bad news for Real Madrid in second leg with Man City to be stronger

But Zinchenko — who had a fine game and was a tactical linchpin for the Blues with his forays into midfield — said Real’s three goals were a reminder of the need to be 100 per cent against opposition who refuse to concede defeat.

“You cannot be relaxed even for one minute or even less at this stage of the competition, especially against Real Madrid,” said Zinchenko. “You can control the game for I don’t know how many minutes but then suddenly they have one moment and they score the goal.

“They have a lot of quality in each line, so we have to be ready. We conceded three goals, we need to analyse what we did wrong, maybe we need to change