MANCHESTER: Real Madrid staged a stunning comeback, with Jude Bellingham netting a last-minute winner to secure a 3-2 victory over Manchester City in a gripping first-leg Champions League quarter-final clash on Tuesday.
Kylian Mbappé and Brahim Díaz also struck for Real, to cancel out a double from City’s Erling Haaland.
Haaland opened the scoring in the 19th minute when Joško Gvardiol chested the ball down to the 24-year-old Norwegian, who volleyed into the far corner. The goal was given after fans held their breath through a four-minute VAR check for offside.
Kylian Mbappé levelled in the 60th minute with a rebound off a free kick, awkwardly bobbling the ball off his shin while falling, before it looped over goalkeeper Ederson and into the net.
Haaland struck from the penalty spot in the 80th minute – awarded after Dani Ceballos took down Phil Foden by his right knee in the box – sending keeper Thibaut Courtois the wrong way. But then Díaz pounced on a poor clearance of Vinícius Jr’s shot by Ederson, and tapped home the ball.
England international Bellingham scored the winner in the 92nd minute when Vinícius looped the ball over from the left and the Englishman got in front of John Stones to tap home.
“I’m very happy for the win, for the team’s work, we played a very complete game and I think it was a really good performance,” Díaz said.
“I’m happy for the goal and for helping the team … I feel we played a great match, it’s not easy here, against a pretty good team… but there’s still the second leg and the work is not finished.”
Real and City failed to advance automatically to the last 16 as one of the top eight sides in the Champions League table, in the new league-phase format, meaning one of the tournament’s top contenders will be eliminated early.
The second leg is February 19 in Madrid.
