Real Madrid‘s Jude Bellingham struck a last-gasp goal to give the holders a 3-2 first-leg victory over Manchester City in an edge-of-your-seat Champions League knockout phase playoff on Tuesday.
Kylian Mbappé and Brahim Díaz also struck for Madrid, to cancel out a double from City’s Erling Haaland.
Haaland opened the scoring in the 19th minute when Josko Gvardiol chested the ball down to the 24-year-old Norway international, who volleyed into the far corner. The goal was given after fans held their breath through a four-minute VAR check for offside.
Mbappé levelled in the 60th minute with a rebound off a free kick, awkwardly bobbling the ball off his shin while falling, before it looped over goalkeeper Ederson and into the net.
Haaland struck from the penalty spot in the 80th minute — awarded after Dani Ceballos took down Phil Foden — sending keeper Thibaut Courtois the wrong way. But then Díaz pounced on a poor clearance of Vinícius Júnior‘s shot by Ederson, and tapped home the ball.
James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
England international Bellingham scored the winner in the 92nd minute when Vinícius looped the ball over from the left and the midfielder got in front of John Stones to tap home.
“I’m very happy for the win, for the team’s work, we played a very complete game and I think it was a really good performance,” Díaz said.
“I’m happy for the goal and for helping the team … I feel we played a great match, it’s not easy here, against a pretty good team … But there’s still the second leg and the work is not finished.”
Madrid and City failed to advance automatically to the round of 16 as one of the top eight sides in the Champions League table, in the new league-phase format, meaning one of the tournament’s top contenders will be eliminated early.
The second leg is February 19 in Madrid.
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