The first goal of the evening came before all the fans were in their seats: Kevin De Bruyne's diving header after just 93 seconds made it 1-0 for Manchester City against Real Madrid.

After eleven minutes of play, Gabriel Jesus made it 2-0.

Real was overwhelmed, overwhelmed, and at this stage everything indicated that City would make it through to the final in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals.

But after just over half an hour, Karim Benzema scored the goal for Real almost out of nowhere, although City could have been leading by four goals at that point.

A fascinating exchange of blows developed in the second half.

City eventually won 4-3 in what the BBC described as football's new 'gold standard'.

Guardiola warns

City manager Pep Guardiola tried to downplay the importance of his side's many missed chances in the post-match press conference - although he almost exploded in the 26th minute when Riyad Mahrez slammed the ball into the side netting instead of Phil Foden, who was free cross.

"Even if the result was 2-0 or 3-0, we should go to the Bernabéu and play well," he said, looking ahead to next week's second leg in Madrid.

However, given his team's unusual defensive weaknesses, he warned: "If we play like we did in the second half, we won't win."

Guardiola has won all national titles with City in England;

this season they can become champions for the fourth time in five years if they keep Liverpool at bay until the end.

But the Champions League, which club owner Sheikh Mansour covets more than anything else, has been a hard nut to crack.

Last season they reached the final for the first time in club history, but lost it to Chelsea.

Guardiola won the Champions League twice with FC Barcelona, ​​although these biggest triumphs of his coaching career are now eleven and thirteen years respectively.

Too many missed chances

And even though they left the field as winners on Tuesday, it must almost feel like defeat for City.

"I want to convince my players that we won the game," said Guardiola, as if they had lost: "Cheer up!" Because they were by far the better team for long stretches, created a number of scoring chances, but let them too many of them unused.

And despite their superiority, they only go into the second leg with a razor-thin lead.

The return is not in healthy proportion to the effort.

Especially since a goal behind before the second leg is no reason for Real to fear.

In the round of 16 they lost the first leg at Paris Saint-Germain 0-1, but won 3-1 at home.

In the quarter-finals, they defeated Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg but were still close to elimination in the second leg before rescuing themselves in extra time where Benzema scored the game-winning goal.

Real coach Carlo Ancelotti seemed more relaxed than Guardiola after the final whistle on Tuesday.

He told broadcaster BT Sport: "These players are capable of not losing their minds when things aren't going well."

City has already proven its resilience this season.

In the quarter-finals, they defended their narrow 1-0 lead from the first leg against Atlético Madrid and drew 0-0 in Madrid over time – despite shaking ranks in the Wanda Metropolitano stadium, at times enormous pressure from the Spaniards and more than nine minutes of stoppage time due to a turbulent pack formation shortly before the end of the regular season.

And between the two legs, City also prevented Liverpool FC from overtaking them in the fight for the championship with a 2-2 draw in the top game of the Premier League.

So they know about stress.

English press skeptical

The bottom line is that City had enough opportunities to go into the second leg next Wednesday with a large lead.

But it will be exciting as it is – the spectators may be expecting another exchange of blows with goals from both sides.

In any case, the English press is skeptical that a one-goal advantage over Real Madrid might not be enough.

"Manchester City put in an excellent performance in one of the biggest Champions League games," wrote the BBC. "But they have to hope they haven't left the door open for Real Madrid." The Guardian also wrote: "It's never a good thing to allow that opponent to continue fighting another day."