Fernandinho came in at right-back for Manchester City against Real Madrid, but the ordinarily solid midfielder was humiliated by an astonishing trick from fellow Brazilian Vinicius Jr.
With City already short-handed in defense following Kyle Walker’s injury, John Stones was picked at right-back, but an early setback to the England international saw Fernandinho come off the bench to fill the spot. And, only moments after assisting Phil Foden, he was subjected to an incredible piece of talent by Vinicius.
Vinicius’ deft dummy sent the ball between Fernandinho’s legs, and the Madrid winger turned away from the City captain before charging towards the goal. To make matters worse, he finished superbly to cap off a fantastic move.
As Chelsea discovered in their Champions League quarter-final versus City, Vinicius was a persistent menace. And the Brazilian was having a field day against not one, but two players who had never played in that position before.
It was a stunning City performance, but Vinicius highlighted their major flaw, which is one of the reasons Madrid is still in the tie. Despite being on the back foot for the entire game and going two goals behind in the first 12 minutes, Madrid managed to preserve the deficit at one goal after a 4-3 defeat.
And Pep Guardiola will be worried about the second leg, with Walker still doubtful. City will not want to be exposed again, especially with the looming threat of playing at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Despite winning 4-3, City will be disappointed because they had chances to end the contest, as Foden stated in his post-match press conference. “It was definitely a wonderful game of football for the spectators watching,” Foden added.
“We’re playing a team that has won the Champions League several times, and if we give the ball away, they’ll punish us.” It’s something we’ll work on during the second leg. The tie is still in place.
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“It was a fantastic game.” From beginning to conclusion. We got off to a great start and had a good chance of finishing them off. We need to take more chances in these games.” Bernardo Silva, Foden’s teammate, felt the same way, saying, “I honestly think for the first 20 minutes we were so, so brilliant.”
“How we pressed, how we dominated the game, how we created chances.” Over the course of 90 minutes, it felt like we could have won by a larger margin. Unfortunately, we were unable to capitalize on our three two-goal lead opportunities.
“It’s the Champions League, and we’re up against one of the top teams in the world.” It is still a good outcome. Now it’s time to move on to the next game. It was a fun game. Our supporters should be proud of us and the work we accomplished.
“We could have scored more, but it was a football game.” They gambled on their chances. The penalty seemed to appear out of nowhere. We were in charge of the game. We got a little unfortunate.”
