Without Ronaldo, Real was held to a draw in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals

(Baonghean.vn) - Without Ronaldo on the field and other stars having to leave the field early, the match between Man City and Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final was not very exciting.

Ronaldo had to watch his teammates play from the stands.

Ronaldo returned to Manchester - where he had spent 6 years, but not at the familiar Old Trafford stadium but at the Citizens stadium of the rival team of his old team. During his 6 years playing in the Premier League, on this stadium, the Portuguese superstar scored beautiful goals. But last night, he did not have the opportunity to do that in front of more than 55 thousand Man City fans. The injury has not fully recovered, forcing this player to sit in the stands to watch his teammates play.

Without their most notable star, the first leg of the semi-final was not very exciting, although the remaining players were all of very good quality. With the home advantage and the technique and mobility of the two attacking midfielders David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne, Man City was the better team to start the match and overwhelmed their opponents in terms of ball possession.

Striker Aguero (left) played poorly.

However, when they had not created any really dangerous opportunities, the home team suffered a loss of force when David Silva had to leave the field due to injury at the end of the first half. Without the most important player, from the second half, Man City did not dare to push up the attacking formation and arranged the team very low. The outstanding players were the central midfielders Fernando and Fernandinho when they were very active in competing and restraining the Kroos - Modric pair on the away team very well. However, the remaining midfielders Navas, de Bruyne and Iheanacho did not do a good job of creating, causing the home team's only striker, Aguero, to play quite poorly.

On Real Madrid's side, although rated higher, due to the absence of Ronaldo, the Spanish team also played very cautiously, especially in the first half. In the second half, it was Benzema's turn to leave the field due to injury. But realizing Man City's timidity, coach Zidane instructed his students to raise their attacking formation and created clear scoring opportunities. In the 54th minute, it seemed like the goal had come when Ramos headed a corner kick from Toni Kroos, but unfortunately the ball found the hands of Joe Hart.

Expensive player Gareth Bale also failed to create any dangerous scoring opportunities.

The final minutes of the match were when the home fans and players lived in fear as Real continuously threatened Joe Hart's goal. In the 71st minute, the away team attacked very well on the right wing and Jese had a chance to head the ball close to the goal but the ball hit the crossbar. In the 79th minute, Casemiro headed from only 5m away but the ball hit the English goalkeeper's feet. 3 minutes later, the guardian angel continued to be on Man City's side when Pepe faced Joe Hart and had a favorable range to volley. Once again, the ball was strong and went wide of the 1m96 tall goalkeeper.

In the third minute of stoppage time, Keylor Navas also saved the visitors by blocking Kevin de Bruyne's free kick. That was also the last dangerous situation of the match.

A 0-0 draw at the Etihad could be considered a slight advantage for Real Madrid before returning to the Bernabeu. However, with a clean sheet at home, Man City also have reason to be satisfied.

Mai Anh