Real Madrid star continues his good run against Manchester City with another all-round performance | OneFootball

Real Madrid and Manchester City were once again paired in a knock-out game in the UEFA Champions League this season, with the two sides having faced off against one another in the last three seasons as well.

Thus, in both of their two most recent UCL-winning runs, the Merengues have had to get over the English giants, and the matches against the Manchester side in both the 2021-22 and 2023-24 were memorable for the Los Blancos fans.

The semi-finals of the 2021-22 UCL campaign were definitely the more exciting of these games, as the Merengues left it to the very last seconds to stage a comeback in regulation time, before winning the game in extra time.

In the last season, the two teams played two draws in both legs of the quarter-final stage, but Real Madrid emerged victorious in the penalty shoot-out.

In all of these four matches, one player who proved to be crucial for the Merengues was the Brazilian star Rodrygo Goes. In the 2021-22 campaign, his contributions were nothing short of heroic, as he scored in the 90th and the 91st minute to tie the scores and force the two teams to go into extra time, in which Los Blancos won the game.

In 2023-24, he again scored a goal in the first leg of the quarter-finals, before adding another goal to the second leg, in which he was the only goalscorer for Real Madrid at the Etihad.

This year, the two sides met in the play-off round before the Round of 16 as they faced off against one another once again in a newly formatted UCL.

In the first leg at the Etihad, the Brazilian had a rather quiet but effective night. He was unable to score or get an assist in this game, but still helped his team get a crucial 2-3 win.

He was much more influential in the second leg, which was played last night and won by Real Madrid with a 3-1 scoreline, as he gave the assist for the second goal of the night.

But, in addition to this assist, his overall performance in this game was once again very impressive, as he was active in all aspects of the game. A game against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City was always going to be tight, and as a result, Sofascore statistics show that the winger got only 59 touches on the ball.

Rodrygo attempted 31 passes on the night, and all of these were successful, thus recording a 100% passing accuracy rate. Furthermore, he also put in 3 key passes, creating 1 big chance, and 2 of his 4 crosses were successful.

He also had 2 shots on target but was unable to find the back of the net, as one of his shots was taken rather tamely, straight at Ederson. Another of his shots went off-target. The Brazilian also had 2 of his dribbles successful on the night.

Similarly, he also won 9 of the 13 ground duels he was involved in during the game last night and also won his only 1 aerial duel. As Jude Bellingham also noted after the game, his defensive contributions were also crucial for Real Madrid, as he made 1 interception and 4 tackles, without committing any fouls, and blocked 1 shot.

Thus, with this performance, Rodrygo once again helped his team get over another top team in Europe, one which has become a classic opponent for the Merengues in recent years. Hopefully, Rodrygo will continue to put in such performances as Los Blancos continue their charge towards another UEFA Champions League title.