City brush Madrid aside to book Champions League final

Manchester City booked their Champions League final date with Inter after an impressive 4-0 win over Real Madrid.

Action: Pep Guardiola promised before the game he wasn’t going to ‘overthink’ this one and that was evident when he named the same starting XI that faced Real Madrid last week.

Straight from the kick-off the Citizens were dominant at the Etihad Stadium with only Thibaut Courtois preventing City from opening the scoring earlier.

With 13 minutes gone a Jack Grealish cross set up Erling Haaland for a header at near point-blank range but the big Belgian was able to get in the way of the shot as David Alaba then hooked the ball clear.

Not long after that Courtois was called into action again, this time only a diving save was able to stop a Haaland header.

But in the 23rd minute, City eventually took the lead. Bernardo Silva drifted into space in the box where Kevin De Bruyne was able to find him. The Portuguese midfielder was able to turn and then fire a shot into the net that Courtois couldn’t get to.

After total dominance by City, Madrid did show that they are able to make something out of nothing when Toni Kroos sent a powerful shot onto the crossbar from distance.

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The visitors did improve after the break with David Alaba firing a swerving free-kick from long range that looked destined for the net until Ederson was able to get to it.

With Madrid just two goals behind you suspected they could still spring another European surprise but not when Manchester City made it 3-0 in the 76th minute. A free-kick whipped in from the left was met by Manuel Akanji as Eder Militão’s effort to attempt only helped divert the ball past the rooted Courtois.

City finished the game with style in the first minute of stoppage time when substitute Julián Álvarez was played through by fellow substitute Phil Foden for a simple tap in past Courtois. That fourth goal made it a fair reflection of how much the Citizens bossed this second leg.

It’s hard to see how Pep Guardiola’s team won’t lift the Champions League if they put in another performance like this against Inter in the final in June.

Man of the Match: We’ve got to give this to Courtois for managing to keep the scoreline on the lower end for much of the game. The Belgian made some fine saves to deny Erling Haaland all night.

Stat of the Day: This result equals Madrid's heaviest defeat in the Champions League with Liverpool also putting four past Los Blancos in 2009.

xG: Manchester City (3.18) 4-0 (0.49) Real Madrid

#UCL FINALISTS! 💙 pic.twitter.com/UzAjYB63xN

— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 17, 2023