It was Vinicius’ night at the Etihad.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola had said his side needed to play a “perfect game” to overturn their 3-0 first-leg deficit to Real Madrid, but their hopes of progression to the quarter-finals were ended by a nightmare moment for Bernardo Silva as Los Blancos eased into the last eight of the Champions League with a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium.
City were left with a mountain to climb following a first-leg performance at the Santiago Bernabeu that led to questions about a seemingly overly aggressive team selection from Guardiola.
The hosts needed to show ambition from the off to have any hope of a remarkable turnaround, but when Silva was sent down the tunnel in the 20th minute after deliberately handling Vinicius’ goal-bound effort, City’s chances went with him.
Vinicius converted the resulting penalty and, though the 10 men of City responded well and levelled through Erling Haaland, an inability to take their chances across both legs proved their undoing.
For his part, Vinicius displayed plenty of profligacy on a night that saw him regularly draw the ire of the City fans, but he doubled his tally with a simple last-gasp finish to round off an emphatic aggregate win.
Madrid will likely next face Bayern Munich, who lead Atalanta 6-1 from the first leg of their last-16 tie. City’s attention turns to the EFL Cup with Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday.
Bernardo blunder costs Manchester City
Madrid could have furthered their grip on the tie as early as the first minute when Federico Valverde, hat-trick hero from the first leg, was played through with a ball that deflected into his path. However, the Uruguayan could only shoot tamely at Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Rayan Cherki and Rodri each forced fine saves from Thibaut Courtois at the other end as City sought the early goal to put life back into the tie, but it was all but extinguished as a contest by Silva’s dismissal.
Vinicius had cut in from the left and curled against the right-hand post, and Brahim Diaz was the quickest to react after the ball rebounded off the back of Donnarumma. Diaz crossed back across goal to find Vinicius, who was left pleading with referee Clement Turpin after Silva blocked his far-post volley.
The assistant’s raised flag briefly rendered any discussions about handball moot, but with replays showing Silva had intentionally moved his elbow to block the ball on the line, a reversal of the offside decision left Turpin but with no choice but to point to the spot and show a straight red to the Portuguese following a trip to the pitchside monitor.
A first red card of Silva’s professional career was followed by Vinicius sending Donnarumma the wrong way, and the Brazil star wasted two glorious chances to put the tie to bed as he failed to cap a pair of rapid Madrid counters that each came after Haaland had been brilliantly denied by Courtois.
Donnarumma then had to be alert to block a Diaz effort at the near post before Haaland’s frustration was finally ended, Courtois beaten by a scuffed finish after Jeremy Doku got to the byline and pulled back for the Norway talisman.
Vinicius and Real Madrid have last laugh
Courtois was substituted ahead of the second half and replaced by deputy Andriy Lunin, and the Ukrainian was soon required to produce a brilliant low save and deny Haaland a brace.
Doku did have the ball in the net soon after Haaland was withdrawn, seemingly with an eye on Sunday’s cup final, but the Belgian had strayed marginally offside.
Kylian Mbappe made his return from injury when he replaced Diaz, his first touch a first-time effort from a corner that flashed across goal after Donnarumma had turned over Aurelien Tchouameni’s close-range header.
Rayan Ait-Nouri and Valverde traded late goals that were rightly ruled out for offside, and a night that City hoped would deliver a famous comeback ended with Vinicius wheeling away in celebration.
Having seen one injury-time tap-in chalked off for offside following a VAR check, Vinicius repeated the feat as he guided Tchouameni’s cross into the bottom-left corner.
