Man City vs Real Madrid 1-2 (1-5 on agg): Champions League – as it happened
All the updates as Real Madrid booked the quarterfinal spot with a convincing win over Manchester City.
This page is now closed, but a summary of the game is available below, and you can click here for our full match report. Thanks for joining us at Al Jazeera Sport.
- Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr scored twice as the Spanish side eased into the Champions League quarterfinals, beating 10-man Manchester City 2-1 at Etihad Stadium to complete a 5-1 aggregate victory.
- Vinicius put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot in the 22nd minute, after the VAR judged Bernardo Silva to have handled his shot on the line, a decision that also reduced City to 10 men and made an already daunting task seemingly impossible.
- Pep Guardiola’s men were not waving the white flag, however, and Erling Haaland levelled in the 41st minute when he tapped in a pass from Jeremy Doku from close range.
- City’s Doku and Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde and Vinicius had second-half goals chalked off before Vinicius completed his brace with the last kick of the game from the edge of the 6-yard box in the 93rd minute.
- The Spaniards, 15-time winners of Europe’s elite club competition, had stunned 2023 champions Manchester City 3-0 in last week’s first leg in Madrid, when Valverde struck a hat-trick.
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Goodbye for now
That’s all from our live coverage of Manchester City against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Thanks for joining us, and be sure to come back tomorrow as we bring you all the action as Liverpool face Galatasaray at Anfield.
For now, from me, Adam Hancock, and my colleague Patrick Keddie, goodbye.
‘Our mentality was to come here and win’
Trent Alexander-Arnold has also spoken with Amazon Prime following Madrid’s victory.
“The game plan was to play football. Of course, they would always have possession and create chances, so it was about absorbing the pressure early on and killing the momentum as good as possible.
“Our mentality was to come here and win. We came in with a three-goal advantage, but we didn’t just want to sit back and hope they didn’t score. It was about coming here and winning”.
On big performances from Madrid’s stars: “At a club like this, big players step up on the big stage. Last week, Valverde put in one of the best performances that people will ever see. Tonight, Vini showed he is world-class by getting the two goals and getting us the win.”
On coming back to play in England: “It was nice to win here, to get one over on them. They have snatched a lot of Premier League medals away from me and Liverpool, but it is amazing to be back here; I have always enjoyed playing here. City are always a top, top club, so you know it will always be a tough game.”
‘Bayern Munich will be really difficult’
Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa has also been speaking with Amazon Prime after the match.
He discussed Real Madrid’s chances in a (likely) quarterfinal tie with Bayern Munich:
“We are improving, and we know if we want to have a chance to win against Bayern Munich, we have to be a team and work all together and be really narrow and compact and show a lot of commitment. After that, we have quality. Obviously, Bayern Munich will be really difficult”.
On how Trent Alexander-Arnold is doing at Real: “He is getting better, and he has a lot of quality. He is now more involved with his teammates, and I am so proud of him. He is happy, and I am happy.”
Real Madrid through to the last 8.#UCL pic.twitter.com/tRezEqFjpT
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 17, 2026
‘It doesn’t feel like they were much better than us’
Jeremy Doku has also given an interview to Amazon Prime after the match:
“I feel like we had enough chances and played well, especially with 10 against 11. It is always going to be difficult, but to be honest, I feel like we did well. Obviously, we are disappointed with the loss”.
On losing 5-1 on aggregate: “It is a hard reality, but I feel like when you look at the games, it doesn’t feel like they were much better than us. When you look at the score, it feels like it is obvious, but that is not the case.”
On Bernardo Silva’s red card:”Obviously, he is our captain and he is the most disappointed of all of us. He tried to defend it – so look, even with 10 against 11, we did well, so just a bit unlucky.”
‘We have been growing as a team and getting better and better’
Two-goal hero Vinicius Junior has been giving his thoughts on tonight’s match.
“We weren’t under pressure, as we scored three goals at home. We knew what we needed to do, and now we need to keep going and keep working hard, as we are through to the quarterfinal.”
On scoring a penalty tonight: “I was really disappointed not to score last week, I really, really wanted to score that penalty, and today was the day, and I am really happy about that.”
On his fake crying celebration tonight: “The last time I came to Manchester City, they were making fun of me and saying I was crying about [not winning] the Ballon d’Or. I wasn’t disrespecting the City fans; it was just a way for me to prove myself to the City fans today.”
On improvements under Arbeloa: “We have been growing as a team and getting better and better. It is two superb performances against City, but we are just getting to know each other and playing a lot better than before.”
Real Madrid head to quarterfinals
Los Blancos will face either Bayern Munich or Atalanta in the last eight.
It looks likely that they will be taking on the German giants, given that Atalanta are trailing 6-1 after the first leg in Italy.
The second leg of that tie will take place in Munich on Wednesday evening.
🗣️ ¡A CUARTOS! 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/h3bvepVbji
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) March 17, 2026
1 – Real Madrid had an expected goals value of 2.06 in the first half against Manchester City, their highest in a first half of a Champions League knockout tie since at least the 2013/14 season. Voracious. pic.twitter.com/awJJXqC3II
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 17, 2026
Manchester City’s quadruple hopes end
City are now fighting on three fronts after their Champions League hopes were dashed by Real Madrid.
They now turn their attention to the League Cup final on Sunday and a meeting with Arsenal at Wembley.
With Arsenal racing ahead in the Premier League title, Pep Guardiola’s side potentially only have two chances left for silverware this season.
Our Champions League campaign comes to an end.
𩵠1-2 âªïž pic.twitter.com/WSv2YIfOHM
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 17, 2026
Madrid too good for Manchester City again
Pep Guardiola will be sick of the sight of Real Madrid. They have once again dumped his team out of the Champions League.
In truth, this tie was over by half-time in the first leg, with Los Blancos storming into a 3-0 lead.
City fought hard tonight, especially considering that they played most of the match with 10 men.
But Real Madrid were just too good over two legs.
🏁 @ManCityES (1) 1-2 (5) @RealMadrid
⚽ 22' @ViniJr (p)
⚽ 41' Haaland
⚽ 90'+3' @ViniJr pic.twitter.com/4DN3O23TH5— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) March 17, 2026
Full-time
Tchouameni’s first-time cross from the right is perfectly delivered for Vinicius Junior, who guides the ball into the bottom left corner from the edge of the six-yard box.
And that is full-time!
Full-time: Manchester City 1-2 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-5)
GOAL! Vinicius Junior makes sure of it
This one will count!
90+4 mins: Manchester City 1-2 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-5)
Goal disallowed
Another one ruled out for offside! Vinicius Junior was in front of the last man when Valverde played the ball through to him.
90+3 mins: Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-4)
GOAL! Vinicius Junior scores a later winner
Madrid snatch it on the night!
90+2 mins: Manchester City 1-2 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-5)
Three minutes added on
Can either side grab a winner on the night?
90+1 mins: Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-4)
City show real fight
Two minutes plus stoppages left in Manchester.
The home side have fought hard in this second half, despite being a man down.
89 mins: Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-4)
Play resumes
The VAR check is complete, and we head into the final six minutes or so in Manchester.
85 mins: Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-4)
VAR check
The video assistants are now looking at that potential Mbappe penalty incident.
Meanwhile, Alexander-Arnold goes off for Dani Carvajal.
84 mins: Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-4)
Mbappe goes down in the box
Mbappe breaks and charges towards the City goal. Ait-Nouri tries to stay with him and quite clearly pulls the Madrid star’s shirt.
It should be a penalty, but the referee waves play on.
Moments later, Madrid have the ball in the back of the net through Valverde, but once again, the offside flag goes up.
83 mins: Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-4)
Yellow card for Alexander-Arnold
A very blatant shirt pull from the former Liverpool player results in a booking. The home fans enjoyed that one.
81 mins: Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid (aggregate: 1-4)