May 4, 2022, 1:23 p.m. ET
May 4, 2022, 1:23 p.m. ET
MADRID – So, here we are again, wondering if Real Madrid can gather energy and cause magic for the last time. Carlo Ancelotti’s team looked defeated, even dizzy against Paris Saint-Germain. That was two months ago. He looked defeated, exhausted against Chelsea. That was four weeks ago. It still stands. At least in the Champions League, Real Madrid has a kind of team that has forgotten how to lose.
There is an element of self-fulfilling prophecy for Real Madrid in this competition. He wins because he does. He is imbued with a sense of purpose, with absolute faith, as soon as he hears this music, as soon as he sees this cup.
This and only this will make Manchester City think a little. Last week’s 4-3 victory over Etihad left Pep Guardiola and his players with double sensations. From the beginning, it was clear that the Premier League champion was smoother, slippery and generally more consistent than Real Madrid, that he played a more complex and advanced form of football, that he had a clearer vision of what he was. what it wants to be. It was an evening in that light, which showed that City was now the place where he had spent a decade trying to go.
And yet, when the staff gathered the next morning, there was no regret, surprise or general bewilderment that the tie in the semi-finals was still in balance, a feeling that Real Madrid was no ordinary opponent who ultimately worshiped City obviously superiority, but it keeps coming, not wanting to wither, even if he knows how. This is the effect of the spell that Real Madrid can cast: a vague sense of anxiety, a gnawing feeling in the stomach that these things only end one way. Manchester City have the chance and the opportunity to reveal this as a delusion tonight. But then others tried and failed, and here we are again.
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