The former English international has slammed Manchester City for not defeating Real Madrid by a bigger margin.
Pep Guardiola’s men were two goals up in the first 15th minutes thanks to goals from Kelvin de Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus but allowed Real Madrid to come back in the game with Benzema scoring to reduce the deficit to one goal in the first half.
Folden and Bernado Silva restored the host two goals advantage but Vinicius Junior’s individual brilliance and Benzema’s panenka penalty in the 82nd minute made sure Real Madrid was still in the tie.
Manchester City controlled the game from start to finish and the host could have finished the game in the first half but Mahrez and Foden squandered golden opportunities to put the tie to bed.
However, the former Manchester City and Real Madrid player believes the Citizens should have finished the tie at the Etihad and accused the City defense of being nervous.
What was said?
Speaking on BT Sport after the game, Steve McManaman criticized the hosts for failing to win by a bigger margin.
He said:‘You never accuse City of being naïve but they were at times.
‘They shouldn’t have let Madrid back into the game. I don’t know what it was, whether they were just overly confident because they were so far ahead, so superior, as soon as they went two goals ahead they started to drop deep, even the third goal, the Panenka penalty, they [Madrid] just had a chance before that, you’re thinking to yourself, ‘how’s that happened?’.
‘City should be just controlling the game. I still think City will score goals and probably win the game over there, the way they played, but they’ve given Madrid a glimmer of hope.
‘And once they go back there with the fans it will be a different scenario to tonight.’
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes John Stone’s injury destabilized the Manchester City team
Speaking on BT Sport, the former England international claims John Stones’ injury destabilizes Manchester City as his replacement Fernandinho could not subdue Vinicius Junior.
Manchester City was not with their usual wing-backs Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker and Ferdinan believes Fernandinho was not able to handle the threat posed by Vinicius Junior.
He said:‘It was a fantastic game, the game ebbed and flowed in different ways.
‘Momentum changed many times during the game, moments of absolute class from individuals.
‘Real Madrid think will be buoyed I think by the way they showed the character and courage to come back.
‘But I still fancy City to go over there [to Madrid] and finish the job off.
‘I think a big, big change in the way the game went was when Stones came off. I think Stones’ injury destabilized the City team.
‘Unfortunately, Fernandinho at 36 years old having to play right-back against one of the most in-form wingers in the game at the moment, that was a vulnerability than in that Man City team.’
Machester City will travel to santiago Bernabeu for the second leg next week.
