On the eve of the second leg of the semi-finals of the Champions League, the position of Real Madrid was in many ways similar to that in which the other representative of Spain had been in a day earlier.
Like Villarreal, he lost in the first leg and was forced to rebound.
The only difference is that the handicap was not two goals, but only one.
However, this hardly greatly simplified the task of Carlo Ancelotti's wards.
After all, they were opposed not only by one of the strongest teams in Europe at the moment, but also by a historically inconvenient opponent.
If we take into account exclusively the teams with which the Madrid had four or more meetings, then less often they won only Chelsea, Peñarol, CSKA, Brugge and AEK.
Of the seven confrontations with Manchester City in favor of Real Madrid, only two ended, and the last time they managed to beat the "townspeople" was in 2016.
Then the paths of the rivals also crossed at the stage of the 1/2 finals of the Champions League, and the winner of the ticket to the next round was determined by one single goal - in response, the English midfielder Fernando hit his own goal.
However, the next three matches went to the wards of Pep Guardiola with a total goal difference of 8:5.
Like Unai Emery the day before, Ancelotti also had to deal with personnel problems.
True, if Villarreal was left without the best scorer this season - Arno Danjuma, then Real Madrid is the main central defender.
David Alaba experienced discomfort even at the Etihad and already at half-time gave way to Nacho Fernandez.
And as it became clear later, the damage turned out to be so serious that the Austrian did not enter the field not only against Espanyol in the Example, but also did not get into the application for the return game with City.
But if in the national championship the Italian specialist tried to experiment and released Casemiro in the center of defense, then in the Champions League he chose the proven link between Eder Militao and Nacho Fernandez.
The Brazilian, on the other hand, took a place in the support zone, where he was very lacking during the first match.
Not without returns and the "City".
Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker returned to action and took up places on the flanks of the defense.
The hosts, as expected, rushed forward and from the very first minutes they began to work aggressively in pressure, threatening with lightning-fast attacks on the left flank.
Already by the 12th minute, Karim Benzema had two opportunities to score, but first he hit his head inaccurately, and then failed to close the chamber of Federico Valverde.
It smelled like a repetition of the plot of the return match with Atlético, during which Manchester City found themselves pinned to their own goal and were forced to desperately fight off the constant attacks of opponents.
But Guardiola clearly took into account this experience.
Guests quickly came to their senses and began to respond blow to blow.
For most of the half, the attack of one team replaced the other, and the game went almost non-stop, for which Daniele Orsato is to be thanked.
The Italian referee allowed the opponents to fight and did not bother with constant whistles, which made it possible to maintain the highest pace.
But although at the end of the first half, both opponents had six hits each, Guardiola's wards were closer to the goal.
Both Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden could score, but in both cases, Thibault Courtois showed an excellent reaction.
The Belgian goalkeeper rescued partners twice and kept the intrigue in the fight for a ticket to the final.
There was also a place for selflessness in this meeting.
Even in the middle of the half, Casemiro fell after a collision with the same Foden and managed to get up only with the help of doctors.
Ancelotti hastily sent Eduardo Camavinga to warm up, but the Brazilian still found the strength to return to the field.
Although it was noticeable by the movements that the midfielder was not feeling well.
However, the first forced replacement was not carried out by Ancelotti, but by Guardiola.
Toward the middle of the second half, Walker began to experience serious health problems and, after another junction, left the field on a stretcher.
Alexander Zinchenko, who replaced him, went to the left flank, and Canselu moved to the opposite.
But if this replacement seemed logical, then the departure from the field of Kevin De Bruyne looked strange.
Ilkay Gundogan replaced the main creative of the "citizens".
But this risky move by Pep was fully justified.
It was the German midfielder who began the attack of the guests, which became effective.
Gundogan threw Silva into the gap, and he perfectly disposed of the ball and rolled on Riyad Mahrez, who was left without guardianship.
The Algerian did without processing and literally "shot" Courtois, powerfully breaking into the near corner.
Real Madrid had just over 17 minutes to work their magic and win back two goals.
But there were no prerequisites for this.
Manchester City reduced the number of dangerous moments at their own gates to a minimum, and even three substitutions did not help revive the game for the hosts.
Experienced Kroos, Casemiro and Modric gave way to Rodrigo, Camavinga and Marco Asensio, but this did not immediately have a positive effect.
Madrid could only lament, remembering Vinicius' miss in the debut of the second half.
Then the Brazilian did not hit the empty corner with Dani Carvajal's cross.
Cancelu and substitute Jack Grealish could finally remove all the questions, but the most powerful long-range strike of the Portuguese was parried by Courtois, and Florent Mendy prevented the second one from putting the ball into the net.
And when it seemed that the second consecutive English Champions League final was a done deal, Rodrigo suddenly took the floor.
With a difference of 99 seconds, the Brazilian first closed the pass of Benzema, and then jumped higher than everyone else and irresistibly struck his head from Asensio's serve.
Real Madrid shocked both their own and foreign fans and restored parity in the sum of two matches already in stoppage time.
The hosts rushed to finish off the demoralized guests.
If Rodrigo was a little more fortunate, and Ederson slower, the teams would not have to spend an extra half hour, but they still could not avoid overtime.
True, it only delayed the inevitable.
Already in the 93rd minute, the best player in the Premier League of the 2020/21 season, Ruben Dias, kicked Benzema, who burst into the penalty area, on the leg and gave Orsato enough reason to appoint a 11-meter penalty.
The victim himself approached the point and this time did without foppishness.
Instead of a “panenka”, he preferred a blow to strength and easily spread the ball and the goalkeeper in different angles.
The Frenchman has 15 goals, ten of which came in the playoffs.
Previously, only Cristiano Ronaldo managed to do this.
City did not stop playing and tried to level the score in the confrontation until the end of extra time.
But there were few chances.
The most obvious of them missed Fernandinho, who failed to hit the opponent's goal from a meter.
Otherwise, Real Madrid defended quite confidently, managing to close the zones in a timely manner with the help of fresh players.
In total, Ancelotti made six substitutions and removed from the field not only Militao, who gave all his strength and moved with difficulty across the field, but also his leader, Benzema.
The remainder of the tournament's top scorer only watched how Madrid neutralized one enemy attack after another and made out one of the greatest comebacks in history.
Real Madrid still kept the winning score and did the impossible, for the third time in the course of the playoffs, winning a strong-willed victory.
Following Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, Ancelotti's wards took over Manchester City and made it to the Champions League final for the first time since 2018.
Like four years earlier, they will face Liverpool for the trophy.