Zidane eliminated for the first time in his coaching career in C1

Manchester City won behind closed doors on Friday against Real Madrid 2-1 in the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League and will meet Lyon, striker of Juventus, on Saturday August 15 in the quarter-finals for the final tournament in Lisbon .

📸 Lo intentionamos hasta el final, pero no pudo ser. # RMUCL | #HalaMadrid pic.twitter.com/BWpKD0gKk8

Obviously, history will remember the two huge errors of Raphaël Varane who seemed lost without Sergio Ramos, suspended, at his side, who offered the two goals to the Mancunians, but on this double confrontation, it is indeed a victory tactics of master Pep Guardiola.

Benzema too alone

As in the first leg, the Catalan had opted at the start of the match for a tactical blow by exiling his true center-forward, Gabriel Jesus, on the left wing, to leave the axis to a "false-nine", Phil Foden , as Raheem Sterling started from the right. A system designed to suck Madrid's central defenders - so strong in duels when the opponent is up against them - out of position to open up spaces for wingers' cross runs or midfielders.

A system that also quickly put Madrid under an unbearable pressing extremely penalizing for its construction from the rear. It was also during an intense pressing phase that Thibault Courtois placed Varane in bad shape in his area, rather than playing long. Too borrowed, the French stopper was stolen the ball by Gabriel Jesus who immediately served Sterling alone against the empty goal for the opener (1-0, 9th).

Benzema too alone on the Madrid side

After the break, Guardiola returned to a more classic 4-3-3 with Jesus in the middle, as he did at the Bernabeu to turn things around in five minutes in the last quarter of an hour. And again, this change paid off since this devil of Jesus well anticipated a too soft head back from Varane for Courtois, to slip his left foot and send the ball bouncing to the back of the net (2-1, 68th) .

A particularly cruel observation for the Belgian goalkeeper who had multiplied the decisive parries at the start of the second half against Sterling (47th, 54th) and Jesus, still him (66th) to keep the hopes of the Merengue alive.

Finished the batalla y dos grands hablan de fútbol. pic.twitter.com/L3QDhvDGMI

Meanwhile, Karim Benzema, another great satisfaction on the side of the roses for a night, had relaunched the match by scoring his 65th Champions League goal of his career, which made him the 4th director of the competition. He had served Rodrygo well between the lines who had eliminated on his first contact Joao Cancelo, and the Brazilian center had found Benzema alone at six meters to score with a header (1-1, 28 ').

But Benzema was a little too lonely to pose problems for the opposing defense, Eden Hazard rarely having shone in this match. A goal that would tear out Guardiola's hair if he did not shave it, because between his pass to Rodrygo and his head, none of the Mancunian defenders sought to know where the French would be placed. A demonstration, if necessary, that City will really need to progress defensively if they want to lift the trophy, as the Catalan had said in a press conference before the match.

This is the first time that Zinédine Zidane has been eliminated in a back-and-forth Champions League clash since taking the bench from Real Madrid in 2016, and this time around, there is no debate. City were above both at the Bernabeu and at the Etihad Stadium. 

• Zinedine Zidane
• Karim Benzema
• Manchester city
• Champions League
• real Madrid
• Soccer
• Sport