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Real Madrid beat Manchester City 3-1 with a Kylian Mbappé hat trick on Wednesday in their Champions League playoff second leg at a raucous Santiago Bernabeu stadium, earning them a 6-3 aggregate victory and a place in the last 16.
Last year’s champions will face either Bayer Leverkusen or city rivals Atletico Madrid, depending on Friday’s draw, as they seek a record-extending 16th title.
It was the first time in City coach Pep Guardiola’s illustrious career that one of his teams in the Champions League had failed to reach the round of 16.
“It was a perfect night,” Mbappé said. “It’s only logical that Real Madrid advance to the last 16 of the Champions League. We are very strong at home and it’s great to give joy to our fans.”
Madrid did not have to work too hard to subdue their sorry rivals who failed to manage a shot on target on the first half, looking a shadow of Guardiola’s dominant force from past years.
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Already 3-2 down after a first leg defeat at home, City’s task became even harder an hour before kickoff when they announced a starting 11 without leading striker Erling Haaland, who suffered a knee injury at the weekend.
With City looking clueless and out of ideas, Madrid took full control of proceedings and never looked under threat.
Mbappé opened the scoring with Real’s first attack in the fourth minute, taking advantage of another massive blunder by City’s defence when captain Rúben Dias missed his header and left the French forward free to lob over the onrushing Éderson.
Mbappé scored again in the 33rd minute with a close-range strike after a humiliating cutback that left defender Josko Gvardiol on the floor.
Real kept piling on the pressure and wasting chances against Pep Guardiola’s struggling team. Mbappe scored his third in the 61st minute with a left-footed strike from the edge of the box just inside Ederson’s right post.
Manchester City scored a compensation goal at the death, Nico Gonzalez converting a rebound after Omar Marmoush‘s free kick bounced off the crossbar, but it did little to tarnish a fantastic night for the Spaniards. (Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)