The reporter reported coldly 2-3 at home to Real Madrid, despite Haaland's brace, the Blues ended their 34-game unbeaten run at home in the Champions League due to a disastrous defensive performance. After the game, Guardiola stressed that the defeat was not an individual mistake, but a collective failure of the team. The always strong coach also admits that the team is not what it used to be, and if Manchester City continue to perform like this at the Bernabeu next week, Manchester City will become the worst Blue Moon Army in the Guardiola era this season, and the coffin can be closed three months early.

This is the pinnacle matchup between the last two Champions League champions, and it is also the fourth consecutive season that the two giants have met in the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Manchester City at home at least has a psychological advantage in the past: in the last six home games against Real Madrid in the Champions League, Manchester City is unbeaten in regulation time with 3 wins and 3 draws, which is the most winless opponents in the Champions League away from home. In the last three seasons, they have played Real Madrid six times, and Manchester City have only lost one game in regular time.

Real Madrid, who are full of injuries, can only use youngster Raul Asensio and midfielder Tchouameni in central defence, with Valverde playing at right-back but taking the initiative away from home. Manchester City shot 11 to 20 and shot 4 to 8 on target, almost half as many as the visitors. The touch in the box was 21 to 32, and the expected goal was 1.60 to 3.42.

Haaland opened the scoring in the 19th minute, and referee Doberman watched a VAR replay for three minutes before declaring the goal valid. It took Haaland 378 minutes and 14 shots on goal to finally score his first goal against Real Madrid, scoring 48 goals in 48 Champions League games, surpassing Manchester City's Sergio Aguero in the Champions League. Previously, Manchester City was unbeaten in 37 games, 34 wins and 3 draws in 37 home games with Haaland's goal. But this first-mover advantage was ineffective against arch-rivals Real Madrid: the last four Champions League knockout matches between the two teams were eliminated by the first goal. Moreover, Manchester City has lost three games before the Champions League this season, and they have all been the first to score. This campaign was no exception, even if Haaland scored twice, Manchester City was still beaten by Real Madrid.

In fact, before Haaland scored his first goal, Mbappe, Vinicius and even Mendy had threatened the Manchester City goal, and Vinicius fell to the ground in the penalty area in the 14th minute, and the referee's failure to say nothing also caused dissatisfaction among Real Madrid players. Then Vinicius, Valverde, and Ceballos tried to shoot from a distance in succession, but they all missed the goal, and it was not until the 60th minute that Mbappe received a pass from Ceballos and sent the ball into the goal with a strange arc with a calf cushion, and Real Madrid was able to equalize.

However, Foden converted a penalty on the penalty line in the 77th minute and Haaland struck home three minutes later to put City ahead again. Real Madrid questioned that the referee only gave 3 minutes of stoppage time when the two sides made a total of 8 substitutions, but in the last 13 minutes, Ancelotti's team still completed a miraculous reversal, first substitute Manchester City veteran Dias came on in the 84th minute, and then equalized after 2 minutes of stoppage time, and then in the second minute of stoppage time, last season's stunner Bellingham relayed Vinicius's pick to complete the tackle stunner.

What makes Blue Moon fans even more helpless is that Real Madrid's two goals in the last 6 minutes were all gifts from Manchester City. Dias's goal came from a mistake by Ederson, who had previously performed bravely, and the Brazilian goalkeeper sent the kick-off ball to Bellingham's feet at the back, so that Real Madrid counterattacked on the spot; And the final killer goal was because Lewis, who came on as a substitute for Akanji, hesitated to receive the ball and sat on Vinicius to steal the ball. Coupled with the fact that Real Madrid's forward line missed many good chances throughout the game, it was not so much that the opponent relied on strong attacking power to win, but that Manchester City made too many mistakes to give away the victory.

Compared with Real Madrid's temporary patchwork of central defenders, it was the Manchester City defence that performed more disastrously. In the last month, Manchester City have conceded four goals against Paris, five against Arsenal and three against Real Madrid. Real Madrid was shot at home 20 times in this campaign, which set a record for the highest number of shots scored by Manchester City in the Guardiola era. Manchester City in the Champions League is still the Manchester City in the Premier League. Conceding as many as seven goals in the final 15 minutes of the Champions League, the most in the Champions League this season. City have conceded 56 goals in 38 games in all competitions, more than the total number of goals conceded in all 59 games last season (54). If they stop in the Champions League play-offs, it is a foregone conclusion that Manchester City will have the worst performance of Pep Guardiola's era this season. The Champions League and the Premier League were both out of reach, leaving only an FA Cup trophy as a possible consolation.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, is obviously better than when the league indulges in the way of refereeing. Kylian Mbappe is getting better, surpassing Thierry Henry in the Champions League (52) after equalising for Real Madrid in the first half, while the French have scored fewer Champions League goals than Karim Benzema (90). Mbappe has scored in three away games against Manchester City and has scored 24 goals this season, equalling the figure of Vinicius in the Golden Boot of Real Madrid last season. Real Madrid, who won at home to Manchester City for the first time, won 300 Champions League games in their history, with Carlo Ancelotti becoming the coach with the most Champions League wins in the club's history (72). When the veteran of the defensive line returns from injury, he will be able to replicate last season's success in the sprint to the title on both fronts.