3️⃣ points as Raphäel Varane errors see Man City in CL quarter-finals | OneFootball

Raphäel Varane was guilty of two schoolboy errors that saw Manchester City beat Real Madrid 2-1 on Friday evening.

It meant that Pep Guardiola’s side eventually eased through to the last eight – winning 4-2 on aggregate – where they will face Lyon in the next round.

Here’s what went down.

Here’s looking at you, kid

Pep Guardiola threw a major surprise an hour before kick off as Phil Foden was named in the starting XI for this most crucial of games’.

There have been plenty of pondering pundits over the past 18 months, openly questioning whether Foden was doing the right thing by staying at Manchester City and fighting for his place.

But throughout that time Guardiola has insisted that there is a long-term plan for the Englishman and that eventually his time will come.

With David Silva now off, the time is now, and oh boy is he taking his chance.

Foden was given a starting berth alongside Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, but was given a huge responsibility by the boss.

In possession, he was to play as an auxiliary number 10, between the lines and in support of Kevin de Bruyne.

Off the ball though, Jesus was sent out wide and Foden was in charge of leading the press from a central position.

It was a piece of tactical genius and it worked a treat in the first half, causing the Real Madrid defence all sorts of problems and indirectly led to the first goal.

The Stockport Iniesta has come of age.

The mighty have fallen

Before the game we thought that Sergio Ramos’ absence would have a big impact.

Clearly Raphael Varane thought exactly the same thing.

Both of Manchester City’s goals were down to clear errors from the Frenchman and it was obvious for the entire 90 minutes that he missed the presence of his partner and captain.

In fact, it was clear that the whole team missed their captain.

Real Madrid were incredibly bad here this evening, letting the game pass them by and struggling to cope with City’s intensity both with and without the ball.

For a side that have swept all before them since lockdown in Spain, this was a chastening experience, one that shows a clear gap between the top divisions in Spain and England.

Zinedine Zidane has now lost a Champions League knockout tie for the first time in his managerial career – and you can’t say it wasn’t deserved.

It’s back

It’s been a remarkable season and all for the wrong reasons.

When Manchester City travelled to Real Madrid on March 1, there was almost no indication that the world would go into lockdown and football would be cancelled.

The way in which the game has reacted to the pandemic was negligent at first, but authorities have to be applauded for the environment they’ve created to allow games like this to go ahead when all initially looked lost.

And how thankful we are.

Because this was one of the best games we’ve seen this season, whether a crowd was there to witness it or not.

It was played at an incredibly high tempo, was full of invention and imagination on the ball, and was, to all intents and purposes, a normal – née great – Champions League knockout encounter.

You can’t say fairer than that.