UCL Debate: Did Real Madrid win it or did Man City lose it? | ESPN FC 

gab is 100% right, Madrid went to Etihad and won without their main GK, two centers back and a defensive midfielder.

Both legs of the tie lasted 210 minutes: - Man City led for 18 minutes. - It was a draw for 76 minutes. - Real Madrid led for 116 minutes. Luck, they said.

How about giving the goal keeper credit for reading that Bernado Silva was planning to go down the middle. He stood there for a reason.

Real Madrid won it, full stop. Not even a debate.

No main GK, two main CB, Defensive midfielder, and no starting striker.

Give us our mf respect. We didn't even have a ST and played without tchouameni. Real Madrid absolutely won this with resiliency and tenacity

Give some credit to Madrid as Shaka said. They defended out of their skin and Man City were just not clinical in their finishing and couldn’t break through the defence

I actually respect Ancelotti for recognising city's strength and madrid's weakness. Having that two ends met on your favor is actually a good tactic.

Unbelievable how Real Madrid focussed on defend for 120 minutes, it took a lot of concentration, energy & mentality.

Stevie says he doesn't know how Real beat Liverpool in final for god sake we have beaten them 5-2 at anfield and numerous other times before that, stop acting like they are invincible or something.

I repeat, this was one of the best defensive performances in football history

They say Madrid was lucky to win this game, but then De Bruyne goal was lucky that the ball landed in front of him! If it didn’t happen, it won’t even go to overtime nor penalty.

This should be a lesson..... That Spanish and German clubs are more consistent in Europe against English clubs

Real Madrid made the two main players of Man City tried and asked their coach to be subbed. This is a new record. 😮

If Atletico Madrid had won this way everyone would say, "Yeah, that's how Diego's teams play". But when Carlo chooses to play that way it's apparently not football to many people.

City generated 2.7 xG in 33 shots over 120 minutes. That’s less than .1 xG per shot. That’s less than 10% chance to score per shot. City had 2 quality chances all game: 1 from a mistake from Rudiger and 1 they generated from their play via Doku and Akanji, but KBD missed. The idea that Man City battered RM is just false. RM forced City wide all game, and City had no ideas on how to break down RM. Edit: Some of you pointed out my math was wrong so I had to double check. I did in fact miss a zero for the percentage. But that is now fixed. Regardless, City generated less than .1 xG (.08 xG) per shot in average which is the point. XG is an extremely flawed stat, but based the volume of shots, I believe the argument can still stand: the idea that City “pummeled” RM is simply not backed up by any data, or even simply watching the game. We can keep going down this rabbit hole and point out that out of City’s 33 shots only 9 were on target mind you, which is another set of data and statistics I don’t want to get into. You can look up xG vs xGot if you’re interested.

Funny how Stevie accuses others of being angry yet this guy flips out all the time. Talk about projecting. Hey Stevie, we all know your precious Liverpool have been embarassed like almost every other EPL club in Europe but you don't need to cry 😂

Lmao stevie is always salty when Real Madrid win 😂😂😂😂😂

Love the tears that these english pundits are displaying .

Halland asked Pep to be substituted because he wanted to escape from rudiger 😂😂

Show some respect to Carvajal, Nacho and Rudiger whom kept Haaland, Grealish, Foden and Doku silent for almost the entire game. Not to mention these guys are all above 30 years old. This’ll be actually the best season to beat Madrid because next season they’ll have Endrick, and possibly Mbappe that would make them unbeatable for years to come.

If madrid keeps beating the best it sounds ridiculous how people say they are lucky year after year. NOBODY has won it 3 times in a row. Come on people

What kind of question is this? ESPN is such a joke.

No, Real Madrid won it. Sore losers these pundits

They played 210 minutes overall. RM was ahead 116 minutes, while City managed to be ahead, only 18 minutes. When RM had to score, they did when they had to defend they did. RM had City where they wanted most of the time, and when you look at the stats in relative terms, RM was more efficient offensively and defensively. City are a very inefficient team. That's a fact.

No Bayern Munich segment from ESPN FC??? Wow , if Arsenal would’ve won ESPN FC would’ve been making 2 hour segment about that.

There’s more than one way to play football. As good as Peps style is, defensive shutouts have been part of the game for a long time. Real Madrid implemented it quite well and came out victorious. Kudos to them

A wise man once said attack wins you games, defence wins you trophies.

I remember when city parked the bus against atl Madrid after being up a goal n won the tie and they all love it 😂

How typical of ESPN! Instead of giving Real Madrid credit where it's due but rather trying to find a way to discredit their Hercules effort last night.

"Boss, we're missing our first choice keeper, center backs, and CDM. Surely we have to go all out and try to score more than we concede?" Ancelotti: raises eyebrow and says "We defend." "Yes, Don Carlo."

Real Madrid Will Always Teach Other Clubs How And What Football Is All About

You can’t say Madrid got battered when their plan was to sit deep absorb pressure and hit on the counter and then they go do exactly that. Getting battered is if they sat deep and conceded 3-5 goals not 1 goal in 120 minutes against City at Manchester. Any other team does that and you say great defending.

A win is a win. Whoever won it went through to the next round. Debate over.

😂Stevie still hurts. _How did they do it_ Stevie, 2 years ago Real Madrid had - at the very least - the 2 best players in the world in Benzema and Courtois. It's not always about the pretty side of the game? No, not always, but I'll tell you what, that performance in Stamford Bridge, including those headers for Benzema's hat-trick, after his hat-trick against PSG, the pass from Modric for Rodrygo's volley, Benzema's extra time header, Rodrygo's own header v City, Vini's quick hand shake with Klopp before appearing seconds later from behind Trent to score in Paris, and all the miraculous saves of Courtois throughout the season were each beautiful in their own right. That's how they did it, Stevie boy.

All these pundits had City winning, they all doubted Madrid. Now they act like dumb like they weren’t all completely wrong

These are the only four people who cannot accept that Real Madrid won 😂

Better side because of ball possession? 30 shots 1 goal ?!! Are we going to act like Madrid wasn’t better defensively and better offensively?

real madrid won it and man city lost it. Real madrid was amazing on the counter attack and had amazing defense throughout the game, while man city couldn't penetrate inside the penalty box with the amount of time they had the ball.

This game also shows how important Stones is, Akanji was free'd coz he can't score. Man City doesn't score from crosses, so they let them cross. First game Silva and Foden scored some great shots, so what did Madrid do, stopped the shots. And what's wrong with defending its just as much an art as attacking. How many teams can say they can do that nowadays. And even City can't, so thats why I think Madrid is better team because they have the better manager.

ESPN can’t get over Real Madrid winning still. Will call it luck and other things than admit they defended their hearts out and win the game

Don’t forget that defending is part of the game.! Also our coach is Italian and he knows how to defend.

How many difficult saves dud Lunin have to make in the 120 minutes? 2 or 3? I'd say that means that Real controlled the game without having the ball. The knew what they had to do and they did it

Yes Gab. Thank you. Ten hag would have gotten absolutely roasted if he had said that instead of Pep.

If Man city would a won the game , everyone would be talking about how genius is Pep he don’t neeed KDB or Halaand to win a match . Because pep could do without them .

if it's only one team that was playing... then that team should've put the ball into the net more than just once!

Defensive play is a critical part of the game. Period!!

Guardiola is obviously lying about the subs, He just want to protect his image, shame on him to blame the players

This thing of deserving to win is just ridiculous. No one deserves anything in this world, if youre a winner then just win

"How about we talk about what happened." Great point from Stevie when talking about Real Madrid. Pitty he doesn't subscribe to this thinking when talking about Salahs miss which if it went in, Liverpool could've, should've, would've, might've won the tie. Even if they lost 3-1 on aggregate. Just give Stevie his own Liverpool fancast.

Rodri's arrogance!"'Only one team played" Nonsense!

Pep absolutely traumatised 😂😂😂😂

Gab Marcotti is the only sensible pundit in espn

Stong is the team that wins at the end of the day. Real Madrid are not called Kings of Europe because they play the best football, They are called so coz they have 14 UCLs It's just bizarre that a team is criticized because they played a certain way. in the end both team scored 4 goals, if Man CIty is so great in offensive play why could they not score more. 30shots 18corners and you score 1goal, I guess the problem is being clinical.

These pundits gotta give Lunin the credit he deserves... That Bernado Silva penalty was pure reading of Lunin and wise decision of Lunin.

Madrid proved to us once more that the 'Special One' is not dated after all 🤣😂🤣😂

Smoking on that city pack

In the final against Liverpool, I was always more confident Real Madrid would score than Liverpool would. So Stevie is talking nonsense.

The only difference between a good penalty and a not good one is just as simple as whether it goes in or not I have seen in many occasions players took penalty like Bernardo did against Madrid, and when it went in, people said it was a good/clever/well taken penalty The same with Modric's and Kovacic's. One day penalty like those went in and people praised it, some other day it didn't go in and it's a bad penalty.

This question is *NEVER* asked when a Premier League team wins. Somehow they always win on merit. 🙄🤦‍♂️

The team that did not advance lost. There's your answer.

has Pep ever considered that his strategy is not the best way to beat elite teams? if you side pass and back pass so much that it makes you press resistant, it forces the other team to defend deeper and deeper until they've parked the bus. so now your ability to create good chances goes down significantly. if you played more direct and played riskier passes, you'd give up the ball more but the other team would push forward more, and thus give you more space in transition to attack into. and counter attacks seem like they'd work really well when you have players like Doku, Haaland, Foden, and De Bruyne. but i guess Pep would rather have 70% possession, create 2-3 good chances, lose, and then get to complain that they were the better team even though they lost.

Pundits and down casting Madrid 😂😂 just makes me laugh.. defending is part of playing too.. never underestimate the soon to be 15time champions 🎉🎉

If Haaland & De Bruyne would have laid down like Carvajal. Then it’s creíble. They were not credible. On the other hand Real Madrid learned from their lesson last year not to press because it would let City break in behind the lines. Excellent job at defending behind the line even if it gave more possession to City. Results paid out at the end.

“Gab why are you so angry?” 🤣🤣🤣

Debate should be Anciolotti over Pep

ESPN TV should simply be named Man City tv.

Pep lie all the time, what trust has he earned.

Premier League is so over rated... All the teams are out of the Euporean competition like always.

Real Madrid won it Score early and shut it down until Penalties Madrid won it because their Game Plan WORKED They made the City players tired Pep said Haaland n KDB couldn't even stand anymore

All the speculation about why they lost is irrelevant. Real Madrid's defense and goalie were better than Man City on this day. End of story.

there's nothing harsh about that Stevie. Bernardo's penalty was so stupid

There's more than one way to win a football game, I hate it when one team says after the match "Only one team was playing or etc." Hate possession based football, it makes people think if you have 70/80% of the possession ENTITLES you to the win.

I really don’t understand “from a football perspective they got battered” bro thinks defending isn’t part of football😂🤦🏾‍♂️

Real Madrid learnt from the previous bait while Pep was still seriously working on the same old bait.

Everyone on set never gave Madrid a chance

The most surprising thing was how Real Madrid were the fresher side in the second half of extra time and started pushing City back with lightning fast counter attacks.

REAL MADRID: "WE COME IN PEACE!!!!"🎉🎉🎉😂😂😂😂

Real Madrid showed man city Levels

Stupid question. People only chose to win, no one ever choses to lose

What is ESPN's Kryptonite? Giving credit to Real Madrid 🙃

Stevie is so mad that bottle city didn’t go through. Well guess what Madrid is Madrid and this is their COMPETITION. Never ever doubt them ever!!!!

I love how Stevie is an angry old man most of the time and, calls someone out for same things then gets mad because he disagrees with Shaka 😂 Pick a side man!

Seeing Stevie animated (11:58) is kinda hilarious 🤣 😂 😭

When you play Real Madrid, you don't just play against the 11 on the field. You play against the history, the gigantic aura that screams champions, Di Stefano, Gento, Puskas, Zidane, Carlos, Figo, Cristiano, Benzema.. That kicks in, the winning mentality. That is huge in games like these. Plus, people tend to forget that Real Madrid is top of La Liga, in the UCL Semi, won the Spanish Supercup, without a number 9, with the backline and GK shuffled throughout the season. Ancelotti gets so little credit. Praising Pep, Klopp, Mou is all fine, but Ancelotti deserves the same attention or even above. The guy is a legend, textbook for future coaches.

Possession and Tiki Taka has gotten old and proven to be ineffective!

Pep makes excuses every time City lose

City fan here, Real didn’t play pretty football but props to them for winning in the end by being relentless and strategic.

Lunin said that they decided before that he would stay in middle for Bernardo Silva!

I swear they do this every time. Trying to neglect the aspect of good defending when the attacking team can't break them down as if a big team isn't allowed to play defensively.

British will do everything but give Real Madrid credit for the win against City. They won the game!

Look at them trying so hard to fight and escape reality..awnnn so cute 🥺🥲

Real Madrid didn't get battered. They dealt with the pressure comfortably.

Winning the 15th UCL title will be a great send off for Modric.... Hala Madrid 🤍👑🏆

All you commentators are haters and you were all supporting city shame on you now for being soft

unreal night....tears down my face....lunin got the last laugh against silva that penalty was personal.......lunin hometown in a war zone and my guy cold as ice

Champions League games are more for STRATEGY.., Not TACTICS only. STRATEGY is more about the whole game management. TACTICS are more about POSSESSION. Pep is the best Tactical Coach there is and his counterpart at Madrid is the best Strategic Manger in Football. Champions League being more about Strategy Real Madrid Coach has more

People often overlook a team which is capable of changing their tactics against different opponents well done Don Carlo

PPL don't understand how much difference Tchouameni makes and Madrid have been playing with Tchouameni the whole season and suddenly he's out in the thhe most difficult game of the season away to city where they lost 4-0 last time!! Another one is nacho has been poor the whole season and to be more open against city at the etihad means nacho 1 on 1 against Haaland, kdb, bernardo, foden, grealish, doku, the list goes on, soo madrid tried to reduce that and were soo deep. Madrid absolutely needed to knock city out since its madrid's competition and they did what was necessary to knock them out with the players players available to them. If city really wants Madrid to attack them at the Etihad..., then atleast they should expect that from a team of similar calibre!! Maybe next season you'll get that city fans!!

Yesterday was one of those days where Manchester City everything they touched no matter how many chances that were created the ball couldn’t go in the back of the net. That’s part of football so many shots a lot of possession on the ball, yet little to no end product. With the complexion of the game it was obvious that they were going to penalties. Overall, Real Madrid deserved to go through because people will say they got lucky they parked the bus for 90 minutes and that part is true, but anyone with ball knowledge knows that the art of defending that’s what wins teams big trophies. Real Madrid are an excellent team we know they can play excellent football and hit teams on the counter attack and while you don’t want to see them defend for the entire game, that’s literally their DNA you can’t argue against that and you have to do what you have to do in order to win. Ancelotti is one of those managers who give freedom to his creative players to express themselves, he’s also pragmatic in a sense that up against a team that has the ball a lot and creates chances you have to sit back the entire game and try to hit on the counter attack when they get sloppy in possession and that’s how the first goal was scored. They conceded late in the 2nd half, even with some mistakes they made, Real Madrid survived and they went through and I don’t see why anybody would be upset with that. Manchester City are an elite team no one is denying that the same team they lost to they beat them 4-0 in their own competition at home last season and have dominated the Premier League which is seen as the best league in the world and while they played so well in terms of what they created, did you really think that they were going to knock Real Madrid out of the Champions League in back to back seasons. Real Madrid are the kings of champions league football and they’re an untouchable team in this competition due to their pedigree and European history and with the power of friendship they weren’t phased about getting outplayed because they had that confidence that they were going to win in the end.