It was always going to happen. Pep Guardiola raised plenty of eyebrows with his team selection for tonight's game, opting to leave the likes of Sergio Aguero, David Silva, and Raheem Sterling on the bench.
Their defence also looked quite frail. A back four of Walker, Otamendi, Laporte, and Mendy always look like it had a mistake in it, with the decision to leave Fenandinho out the line-up also an odd one.
Things looked even dodgier for City when Laporte had to be withdrawn due to injury, and a typically lackadaisical piece of play from Otamendi and Walker handed Real Madrid the opening goal of the night.
With City playing the ball out of the defence in a typical manner, the Argentine opted to give it to Rodri despite the midfielder being tightly marked. He then made himself unavailable for a return pass, leading to Madrid overturning possession.
From here, Kyle Walker refuses to boot the ball clear and gets pipped by Vinicius Jr, who sets Isco up with a tidy pass.
ISCOOOOO ⚪️!
Madrid lead at the Bernabéu!
Calamitous defending from Man City!#RMAMCI #UCL #VMSport pic.twitter.com/n0URCD2tfn— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 26, 2020
If there's one thing we've learned from watching Otamendi over the years, it's that he will always give you at least one chance with a mistake. The same can often be said of Kyle Walker.
Neither covered themselves in glory here.
Luckily for Pep Guardiola, his side would rally back to claim the win. Gabriel Jesus equalised after a beautiful Kevin de Bruyne cross.
Gabriel Jesus leaps up behind Sergio Ramos and heads Man City level!
What a ball from KDB!! 🎯#RMAMCI #UCL #VMSport pic.twitter.com/30ls4N5vY6— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 26, 2020
Moments later, Carvajal would hack Raheem Sterling down in the box, with de Bruyne converting the resulting spot kick.
Kevin De Bruyne
Ice in the veins. ❄️#RMAMCI #UCL #VMSport pic.twitter.com/uhRzOXeLJQ— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 26, 2020
