Real Madrid defeats Man City thanks to Mbappe's hat-trick.
Kylian Mbappe gave Real Madrid the lead after four minutes and added his second goal just before halftime. Mbappe finished low in the second half to complete his hat-trick; For Man City, who were eliminated from the Champions League, Nico Gonzalez scored a late consolation goal.
In the second leg of their Champions League elimination play-off, Real Madrid defeated Manchester City 3-1 thanks to a spectacular hat-trick from Kylian Mbappe, securing a 6-3 victory overall.
Before giving up two late goals in the first leg, Pep Guardiola's team had been ahead in the match going into the 86th minute. However, as Real Madrid displayed their superior pedigree, there was no such competition at the Bernabeu.
Guardiola was accommodative after the match, telling TNT Sports: "We accept it. Congratulations to Real Madrid, the best team won, and now we'll concentrate on the Premier League.
"We acknowledge that this is the first time we haven't had a successful Champions League season and strive to return the following year.
"We were quite fortunate to have participated in this competition for a long time, and we were thrilled to have won once and advanced to the championship game in another. We must acknowledge that we are not close enough to be there at this time of year, and we will have to wait and see what transpires."
Mbappe quickly gave the home team the lead. Man City was caught off guard by a straightforward ball over the top, and the attacker maintained his calm to lob the custodian after four minutes following a slip by Ruben Dias.
Following an apparently harmless challenge, John Stones was brought off hurt, further worsening the situation for City.
Real Madrid kept creating chances, with Mbappe outpacing Dias once more and Ederson having to make a save in the best of the strikes. However, the France international doubled the lead in the 34th minute without making a mistake.
With a deft short ball from Rodrygo to Mbappe, the Real Madrid front line overpowered a bewildered Man City defenders. After leaving Josko Gvardiol on the ground, he dummied passed him and slammed home.
Additionally, Mbappe finished off Real Madrid's thumping victory on the hour by completing his impressive hat-trick. Without exerting any pressure, he was picked out over on the right side of the field, avoiding Phil Foden before finishing low and with an arrow in the far corner.
After failing to register a shot on goal in the first hour, the visitors showed some life in the last fifteen minutes and were able to score a consolation goal in extra time. Nico Gonzalez was there to turn home after Omar Marmoush's free kick struck the crossbar, and a VAR check verified the goal was valid.
Man City's season has seen yet another setback, and this is hardly the best preparation for their upcoming Premier League matchup with Liverpool on Super Sunday.
Bellingham: Mbappe is flying despite having a poor start.
"We know he'll have an impact on them going into games; our role behind him is to position ourselves as best we can so that he can be dangerous when he receives the ball in certain places. His varied ambitions demonstrated that; his career accomplishments are astounding. Even though he started out slowly, he is now soaring. It's entertaining to observe.
Regarding Real Madrid's patchy performance: "Outcomes can be humiliating. You need to be reminded that when we go to teams, talent alone won't be sufficient. Simply turning up and taking the points is insufficient. We demonstrated organisation and dedication to the cause in these two games.
Guardiola: After the first goal, it's tough for Man City
"The game was in the 2-1 [first leg] and we came here with one down [on aggregate] due to a mistake in the last two," Pep Guardiola said in an interview with TNT Sports. "John [Stones] started with an injury.
"It's more challenging because of their skill, but after the action from the first goal, it was something similar to what happened during the season. It was challenging after that, but we want to prolong that a little bit longer for the outcome, and anything can happen."
Regarding Mbappe: "They have a lot of players, not just him. We simply applaud them because they are an amazing team and deserve to succeed."
Regarding the campaign's remaining goal: "Win against Liverpool in the next game and qualify for the Champions League next season."
Ancelotti: Our squad is dangerous.
"We have a lot of quality in attack, and our goal was to be good defensively," Carlo Ancelotti said in an interview with TNT Sports. We don't always have the quality to defend as a block, but in these two games we succeeded.
"We have a lot of quality, and [Mbappe] is an amazing player. When they can connect with [Jude] Bellingham, we can be very dangerous." We had numerous chances against a very strong team during the two games.
Was Ancelotti taken aback by Man City's lack of production?
"Just a touch. The guys knew how to cooperate in defence, so we spent a lot of time in a low block."
