Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Wednesday night got an impressive result at the Santiago Bernabeu where they beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the first leg of their UEFA round of 16 clashes.

The citizens went into the tie on the back of a two-year ban on from UEFA for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations with the club submitting appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports.

Furthermore, the team has been long out of the race for the English Premier League title despite being placed second on the log, Pep Guardiola’s men are 22 points behind Liverpool. Real Madrid came into the game on the back of a shock 1-0 loss to Levante in the Spanish La Liga at the weekend which eventually led to a drop from the top spot to second place with Barcelona moving up to the top spot.

Zinedine Zidane’s men took the lead in the second half of the encounter in the Spanish Capital in the second half on the dot of 1 hour with Spanish Midfielder Isco scoring from a Vinicius Junior assist. However, the comeback started with 12 minutes left on the clock with Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus scoring with Belgian Midfielder Kevin De Bruyne providing the assist.

Five minutes later, Manchester City were awarded a penalty after Danil Carvajal committed a foul. De Bruyne stepped up and converted the spot-kick which eventually gave Manchester City the vital away win to take into the 2nd leg. The return leg will come at Etihad Stadium on the 17th of March in a game that Real Madrid must win by a 2-goal margin.

Up next for Pep Guardiola’s side is an EFL Cup Final match against Aston Villa on the 1st of March while Real Madrid returns to La Liga to face Barcelona in the El Clasico on the 1st of March.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu