Aguero and company lacked the right service
Pellegrini’s charges showed tremendous heart in their approach and they clearly exhibited great hunger to go and win the match, but they just didn’t test Keylor Navas in between the Madrid posts nearly enough.
As discussed, the Sky Blues chased this match with searing desire and their efforts at the back were highly commendable to say the least. However, while they looked very eager to rattle the back of the net, their yearning was not matched by their means.
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De Bruyne, Jesus Navas and Sergio Aguero all looked dangerous in attack, but they simply couldn’t fashion the right amount of chances for each other. Time and again, the delivery lacked the accuracy and menace to cause enough problems. On other occasions, they simply played the wrong pass, attempted a take-on instead of squaring the ball or failed to see a team-mate in a good position.
They didn’t look sharp on the offensive, something best summed up by the match stats which shows just how much they let themselves down going forward:
In the 89th minute, De Bruyne almost unlocked the Los Blancos defence with the really intelligent idea to fashion a reverse pass, but his execution was lacking and the ball squirted away harmlessly instead of landing in Sterling’s path. Minutes before that, the £49 million ex-Liverpool star really let himself down with a poor touch after being played through on goal which allowed Pepe the chance to steal in and clear.
Nobody could have faulted their work-rate and energy but the theme of disjointed attacks was something their fans will certainly feel aggrieved at.
Looking at their performance in the cold light of day, they perhaps spent too much energy on looking to contain Madrid when they should have gambled a little more on pushing players forward in support. After all, while they often broke very promisingly, their attacks often seemed rushed due to a lack of options. That said, this tie is still all to play for and with a little more confidence in themselves, they can take this one right to the wire.
