Man City outclass Real Madrid to reach Champions League final

AFP

This time Manchester City left nothing to chance as they demolished Real Madrid 4-0 to march into the Champions League final for the second time in three seasons with a 5-1 aggregate victory at a raucous Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.

A semi-final delicately poised after an electrifying 1-1 draw in the Bernabeu turned into a rout as Pep Guardiola's City slickers dispatched the Spanish giants with consummate ease.

Bernardo Silva's first-half double gave City control and the hosts took gleeful revenge for last season's heartbreaking semi-final loss to the 14-time champions with Manuel Akanji credited with City's third and Julian Alvarez adding a forth.

With Inter Milan in the final, City will be favourites to deliver the trophy Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour has craved since buying the club in 2008, having lost to Chelsea in the final two years ago.

City are unbeaten in 26 home Champions League games and that run was never in danger once Portuguese midfielder Silva whipped a shot past Thibaut Courtois in the 23rd minute and then headed his side's second in the 37th.

The second half became a formality as holders Real, bidding to win the trophy for a sixth time in 10 seasons, were powerless to stop a relentless City side closing in on a treble.

Carlo Ancelotti's record 191st game in charge of a Champions League team became a night to forget for the wily Italian who, for once in his illustrious career, had nothing up his sleeve.

"It's a beautiful night for us. We knew it was going to be tough," Silva told BT Sports. "But to beat this Madrid team 4-0 at home, it was a wonderful. A wonderful feeling to be in the final again, and hopefully this time we can win it."

City launched 69 attacks, according to UEFA data, and but for some incredible saves by Real keeper Thibaut Courtois, they would have run up a much bigger score.

"The opponent was better than us by a large margin," Dani Carvajal, one of four Real starters with five Champions League titles for the club, said. "They were a superior opponent."

Expectancy and tension hung heavy in the air before kickoff inside City's fortress, even more so as the clash was billed as a de-facto final with Inter, in their first final for 13 years despite a mediocre Serie A season, awaiting the winners.