Real Madrid beat holders Manchester City 4-3 on penalties to reach the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday after the last-eight tie ended 4-4 on aggregate.
Rodrygo’s early goal put the 14-time title-holders in charge at the Etihad Stadium after the first leg had ended 3-3.
Kevin De Bruyne had City back level with only 14 minutes of normal time remaining. After extra time failed to break the deadlock Antonio Rudiger scored the decisive spot-kick to send Real into the last four and a clash against Bayern Munich.
In doing so the 14-time European champions booked their place in a fourth successive Champions League semi-final as well as dump the defending champions out.
City’s response was inches away from being perfect though, as Erling Haaland leapt highest in the area but could only watch on with angst as his header bounced away off the crossbar.
That was as close as City came to finding a leveller before the break, with a couple of fearsome Kevin De Bruyne strikes signalling their intent, but by no means threatening Real’s resistance.
Pep Guardiola’s side looked much more dangerous after half-time, and twice tested Andriy Lunin within 10 minutes of the restart, but the Ukrainian had the answers to the questions Jack Grealish and Phil Foden asked of him.
The Etihad faithful were growing uneasy with Real’s gamesmanship, and although the stop-start nature of the game certainly wasn’t pleasing on the eye, it was exactly what the Spanish giants needed to take the sting out of proceedings.
City pressure was incessant at times, and after introducing the electric Jeremy Doku, it was his cross that forced an error out of Antonio Rudiger, whose miscued clearance at the near post was punished in emphatic fashion by De Bruyne, who slammed the loose ball high into the roof of the net.
The Belgian ought to have won it for City in normal time when he fired Manuel Akanji’s cut-back over from 12 yards.
All night Real had been biding their time waiting for that one big chance that would likely fall their way, and when it did in extra time, it simply fell to the wrong man, as an unmarked Rüdiger rifled over from a tight angle.
That meant penalties for the first time in a UCL quarter-final in 19 years, and it was ultimately Real who prevailed, with Lunin saving from Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic before Rüdiger converted what was ultimately the winning penalty to set up a semi-final date with Bayern Munich and move his side one step closer to a 15th European crown.
