Bellingham late goal completes epic Real Madrid comeback against Manchester City

Jude Bellingham scored a 92nd-minute winner as Real Madrid came from behind twice to beat Manchester City 3-2 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout round play-off to earn a first win at the Etihad Stadium inside 90 minutes.

The Citizens’ supporters stoked the competitive flames of this round’s heavyweight clash with a “stop crying your heart out” message to Vinicius Junior and his club before kick-off.

Much like his reaction to Rodri winning the Ballon d’Or, the Brazilian was left in disbelief as he was denied a penalty by the offside flag before he played a brilliant pass to Kylian Mbappe whose shot was saved, then Nathan Ake denied Ferland Mendy after Vinícius had touched the ball to the Frenchman. 

Having come out of that period unscathed, City took the lead thanks to a wonderful move that culminated in Erling Haaland scoring his first-ever goal against Los Blancos after Josko Gvardiol chested the ball into his path.

In response, Vinicius saw his deflected shot crash against the crossbar on its way behind, but there was still a blow for Pep Guardiola as Jack Grealish went off injured on the half-hour mark after making a bright start.

The chances still flowed as his replacement, Phil Foden, tested Thibaut Courtois and Manuel Akanji’s header flicked the crossbar on its way behind, while Federico Valverde came agonisingly close at the other end and Mbappé blazed his shot over before the break.

Akanji made way at half-time having struggled physically towards the end of the first half, but there was no slowing down with Haaland’s shot being deflected onto the crossbar by Eduardo Camavinga.

Vinicius then glided past substitute Rico Lewis and delivered a cross that Jude Bellingham headed wide before Ederson palmed away Mbappe’s instinctive attempt and the talismanic forward was halted by a superb Gvardiol tackle.

Man City has a win out of their last six games in all comps.

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