Manchester City fail to reach the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time since the 2012-13 season
Real Madrid 3-1 Manchester City (Mbappe 4′, 33′, 61′ | Nico 90+2′) – Real Madrid advance 6-3 on aggregate
Kylian Mbappe scored the third Champions League hat-trick of his career on Wednesday night as Real Madrid steamrolled Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabeu.
It was a tale of contrasts for the two number nines. While Mbappe was running riot, Erling Haaland could only watch from the bench as City went out of the Champions League with barely a whimper.
It was City’s earliest exit from the competition since their failure to advance from the group stage in 2012-13, and was another low point in a season that started with an 13-match unbeaten run and has since unravelled by their lofty standards.
The evening started badly for Pep Guardiola’s men when Haaland was ruled out of the starting line-up by injury and rapidly got worse – 3-2 down from the first leg, City needed to win but were chasing the game after only four minutes when Mbappe scored his 26th goal of the season and his fifth in this competition alone.
John Stones then limped off and Mbappe doubled the lead before the break, netting his third on the hour. The game was had long been decided when Nico Gonzalez made it 3-1 with his first goal since joining City last month.
The Real head coach Carlo Ancelotti had called the match-up of the past two winners of the trophy a “modern classic”, but this latest chapter in a burgeoning rivalry was too one-sided to live up to that billing.
With Haaland fit only for a place among the substitutes after suffering a knee injury in the 4-0 victory over Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday, Omar Marmoush, who scored a hat-trick against Newcastle, was a lonely figure as City’s sole forward.
Another January signing, Abdukodir Khusanov, made his European debut for City as Guardiola made five changes to the side that started the first leg.
It was to no avail as the home side scored with their first attack. Raul Asencio hoisted a simple long ball forward for Mbappe to chase. Ruben Dias found himself outpaced and Stones could not cover across in time, leaving Mbappe to lob the advancing Ederson.
Within a minute or two Stones was forced off with a muscle injury, and City were well and truly up against it. Khusanov soon found himself isolated against Vinicius Jr and while Gonzalez had looked like a young Rodri in that win against Newcastle, he was being asked to stem an almost irresistible tide.
After 33 minutes a slick move begun by Jude Bellingham was carried on by Vinicius and ended with Rodrygo setting Mbappe up to put Josko Gvardiol on his backside and smash the ball past Ederson.
City, meanwhile, could not lay a glove on the hosts and only an excellent save from Ederson after 57 minutes prevented Mbappe from completing his hat-trick from a dangerous low cross by Federico Valverde. But his treble was delayed by only four minutes as he cut inside from the right, strode past Phil Foden and curled the ball low past Ederson’s right hand.
City were denied what looked a clear penalty when Brahim Diaz felled James McAtee on the 18-yard line but in added time, Marmoush’s free kick struck the crossbar and Gonzalez tapped in the rebound. It was more an act of defiance than any sort of consolation.