By Brian Okoth
Real Madrid drew 1-1 with Manchester City in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final at the Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday.
A 36th-minute goal by Brazilian winger Vinícius Júnior got Madrid ahead in an exciting first half.
In the lead-up to the goal, Vinícius picked a pass from team-mate Eduardo Camavinga, sprinted and fired a shot that curled past his compatriot, Ederson Moraes.
For the most part, Madrid were pressed in their own half, with City making brilliant passes that only fell short of ripping apart the solid Real Madrid defence before the halftime break.
Until City’s goal on Tuesday, Madrid had played a total of six hours in the Champions League without conceding.
City threw everything they could at Carlo Ancelotti’s boys in search of an equaliser. Their relentless efforts paid off in the 67th-minute when Kevin De Bruyne picked a low pass from İlkay Gündoğan and fired a shot into the bottom corner.
The stalemate sets up a mouth-watering return fixture on Wednesday, May 17, when Madrid will visit the Etihad Stadium.
The winners of this fixture will face either Inter Milan or AC Milan in the finals on June 10 at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Türkiye.
The Tuesday clash marked the ninth time Madrid was playing against City in the Champions League.
In the previous eight encounters, City had won three, drawn two and lost three against the Spanish side.
Madrid beat Man City 6-5 on aggregate at the same stage of the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League en route to winning the trophy for the 14th time.
They also eliminated City at the same stage in 2015/16, the season before Pep Guardiola joined.
The two sides clashed in the 2019-20 season, in the Round of 16. It was City who prevailed, winning both legs 2-1.
Los Blancos’s title haul of 14 is the same number as all the Champions League trophies won by five English clubs combined.
Liverpool is the contest’s most successful English side with six trophies, followed by Manchester United (3). Nottingham Forest and Chelsea have two each, while Aston Villa has one.
