Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
- A stalemate at The Etihad after a Ronaldoless Real are held by a resolute Manchester City
- City who welcomed back Vincent Kompany after a long term injury will have Joe Hart to thank after his fantastic save from Pepe’s effort late on
- Pepe was left unmarked in what was a rare blip by City’s Defence and looked odds on to stab home but Hart was more than equal to it and his star jump like saved kept the game scoreless much to the delight and probable surprise of the City fans who for a split second expected the worse
- Without sounding a cliché it really was a game of two halves
- Real Madrid looked more than willing to park the bus in the first half while in the second they pinned City back to try and snatch a vital away goal
- City lacked the drive of Yaya Toure in Centre Midfield and couldn’t seem to really penetrate Madrid’s backline
- Their cause wasn’t helped by the injury to David Silva in the first half, he will now miss the 2nd leg due to a hamstring problem
- That really was the only talking point of the first half, as nothing really happened
- Sergio Aguero looked isolated up front as he struggled to get the support he required from either Kevin De Bruyne or Jesus Nevas
- Gareth Bale had to take up the slack after Ronaldo was out through injury and while he had a few half decent chances he never really troubled the excellent Joe Hart
- It was a game for the tactical purists but to be honest no-one would have really picked 0-0 as a scoreline, especially with Real only failing to score on 7 occasions this season
- But credit must go to City as they more than held their own, they looked such a different proposition once Kopmany is playing again
- You wouldn’t have noticed that he was out for such a long time, he didn’t miss a step last night
- How much did Real miss Ronaldo last night, would he have made much of a difference. You would imagine he would have given Real an extra edge but City were imperious in Defence last night
- With the scoreline at 0-0 going into the 2nd leg you have to wonder who that result suits better. City will still feel they can go to The Bernabeu and nick an away goal, it just depends if they can have another solid night at the back
- This one is still very much in the balance with all to play for next week.
Papa Johns – If your team scores twice then it’s half price
