Abu Dhabi: So, like their incoming coach, Pep Guardiola, Manchester City endured 2016 Champions League misery on Wednesday evening when Real Madrid prevailed 1-0 on aggregate in the second semi-final after an own goal from Fernando at the Bernabeu.
But at least Guardiola’s Bayern Munich succumbed to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday after a herculean attacking effort which yielded 33 attempts on goal - as opposed to a desperately disappointing City’s two across two legs.
City will surely live to regret not having been more adventurous in the first leg when Zinedine Zidane’s men were deprived of their injured forwards Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, yet still earned a 0-0 draw at the Etihad Stadium.
It was always going to be a tall order for City to win at one of the most intimidating arenas in European football, where no opposing team has scored in this season’s Champions League.
And Gareth Bale’s right-wing cross deflected into the net via City midfielder Fernando after 20 minutes was all Real needed to earn a repeat of their 2014 Champions League final with Madrid rivals Atletico.
Prior to the game, Zidane had warned that Los Blancos would have to suffer at some point in the 90 minutes or 120, if extra time was needed.
But this was a surprisingly stress-free occasion for the quietly assured Frenchman and not one which would cause his trousers to rip, as they had done against City in the first leg and in the quarter-final when Real slayed Wolfsburg.
The fact is, City’s big-name players, chiefly Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne, were as anonymous as they were in Manchester.
Aguero was supposed to have been supported in attack by City’s injury-stricken midfield dynamo, Yaya Toure, but the 32-year-old Ivorian is a pale shadow of the thrusting figure who has influenced countless games before.
As such, the isolated Aguero was again easily shut out by the twin defensive enforcers of Pepe and Sergio Ramos, while De Bruyne was equally as impotent out of position on the left.
Toure’s replacement after an hour, Raheem Sterling, did not have long enough to help conjure the goal City needed to progress.
Quite frankly, pundits such as Ruud Gullit were absolutely right to assert that the lumbering and lethargic Toure should have been hooked long before he was.
In truth, Real always appeared superior in possession and in attack and they were buoyed by the early withdrawal of the City captain Vincent Kompany after only 10 minutes due a recurrent muscle injury.
But Kompany’s absence – he was replaced by Eliaquim Mangala – had no bearing on the eventual result, as it was the poverty of City’s offensive play which proved their eventual downfall.
The Blues’ best chance of equalising Bale’s opener came 10 minutes before the break, when Fernandinho’s close-range drive hit the outside of the post.
But the anticipated second-half onslaught from City did not materialise, despite boss Manuel Pellegrini introducing Sterling and Kelechi Iheanacho for Jesus Navas.
City dismally failed to trouble Keylor Navas’s goal and secure the score-draw which would have sealed a place in their first European Cup final.
At the other end, the ever-impressive England goalkeeper, Joe Hart, denied Luka Modric and then Ronaldo twice as Real appeared content to weather City’s limited pressure and strike on the counter-attack.
So now we have another attack-versus-defence encounter between the Madrid giants in the final on Saturday, May 28.
In 2014, Real prevailed 4-1 – a flattering result on the balance of play – and one which is unlikely to be repeated this year given the increased obduracy of Diego Simeone’s Atletico.
