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		</div><p><strong><span style="color:#521212;">Christiano Ronaldo failed late fitness test, misses out on the chance to deny rivals City as match England keeper Joe Hart denies Pepe with super late save<br />
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<p><span style="color:#521212;"><strong>David Silva was replaced by <a href="https://konniemoments.com/2016/04/25/european-champions-league-build-up-guess-deadliest-goal-scorer-in-european-soccer-is/">youngster Kelechi Iheanacho</a> in the 40th minute<br />
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<h5 class="mol-para-with-font"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18338" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/manchester-city-v-real-madrid-2.jpg" alt="manchester-city-v-real-madrid-2" width="615" height="409" /></strong><br />
<strong>All action: Otamendi showed why he proved so costly last summer</strong></h5>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Without first choice forwards Cristiano Ronaldo, and Karim Benzema real madrid got a valuable away poit at Manchester City in a very tight game. In a game marked by strategy rather than passion Real Madrid came the closest to scoring with 20 minutes remaining when a header by substitute Jese hit the bar.</p>
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<h5 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18336" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/man-city-final-wipeout-3.jpg" alt="man-city-final-wipeout-3" width="948" height="417" />Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart does brilliantly to stop a close-range effort from Real Madrid defender Pepe late in the game</strong></h5>
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<p class="imageCaption"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18923" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/hi-res-5e1653ffe55a6be5e5d4e9f42a12a366_crop_north.jpg" alt="hi-res-5e1653ffe55a6be5e5d4e9f42a12a366_crop_north" width="630" height="420" />England No 1 Hart drops to the turf to keep out Pepe&#8217;s strike, which would&#8217;ve given Real Madrid a potentially crucial away goal</p>
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<h5 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18386" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/338ffcae00000578-3560110-real_madrid_forward_gareth_bale_controls_the_ball_as_manchester_-a-77_1461702874590.jpg" alt="338ffcae00000578-3560110-real_madrid_forward_gareth_bale_controls_the_ball_as_manchester_-a-77_1461702874590" width="961" height="656" />Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale controls the ball as Manchester City midfielder Fernando races towards him at the Etihad Stadium</strong></h5>
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<h5 class="imageCaption"><em><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18928" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1843880-38874840-640-360.jpg" alt="1843880-38874840-640-360" width="640" height="360" /><br />
Photo: Reuters</em><br />
<strong>Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was forced to watch the first leg from the stands after failing a late fitness test</strong></h5>
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<div class="mobile-gallery-icon">Although Ronaldo was missing from the lineup and Benzema had to be withdrawn at the half, still Keylor Navas in the Madrid goal remained untroubled. Sergio Aguero had a shot a minute into the second-half that flew over the bar, and that was about it. City had a lot of possession and will take great heart that Madrid did not score away from home, but the away leg will be very different if Zidane&#8217;s team is at full strength.</div>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">Madrid finished much the stronger here. A corner from the right after 79 minutes picked out Brazilian defensive screen Casemiro, but his header was superbly stopped by Joe Hart, with his feet, in the manner of David de Gea. A free-kick for Madrid on the edge of the area a minute later also looked dangerous but Gareth Bale blasted it tamely into the wall.<br />
From the corner, Hart was forced into the save of the night. The corner was headed on by Bale, it fell to Pepe in so much space he was initially presumed offside. A flag went up, then down, and in that split Hart threw himself at the ball, making a vital save as he smothered Pepe&#8217;s shot.</p>
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<h5 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18922" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/man-city-madrid-006.jpg" alt="man-city-madrid-006" width="620" height="428" />Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany fouls Casemiro as he rises to get his head to a cross from the right during the first half</strong></h5>
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<h5 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18924" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/1461728138_sergio-aguero-manchester-city-luka-modric-casemiro-real-madrid.jpg" alt="1461728138_sergio-aguero-manchester-city-luka-modric-casemiro-real-madrid" width="671" height="450" />Sergio Aguero (centre), who used to play for Real Madrid&#8217;s rivals Atletico Madrid, lifts his </strong></h5>
<h5 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18400" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/339027f000000578-3560110-real_madrid_forward_gareth_bale_watches_on_as_his_left_footed_st-a-75_1461702833626.jpg" alt="339027f000000578-3560110-real_madrid_forward_gareth_bale_watches_on_as_his_left_footed_st-a-75_1461702833626" width="961" height="542" />Real Madrid forward Bale watches on as his left-footed strike curls just wide of Hart&#8217;s Manchester City goal during the second half</strong></h5>
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<h5 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18390" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/33904b2600000578-3560110-image-a-95_1461704781310.jpg" alt="33904b2600000578-3560110-image-a-95_1461704781310" width="962" height="597" />Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas tips over a free-kick from De Bruyne during stoppage time at the end of the second period</strong></h5>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">So City have at least a puncher&#8217;s chance in the Bernabeu next Wednesday. Score and Madrid will need two. So this was far from a poor result. It was, however, a missed opportunity. This was Madrid at their least potent, yet they came through with barely a scratch. City have to find a way of putting Madrid under at least as much pressure as the seat of Zidane&#8217;s trousers.</p>
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Marcelo and Gareth Bale of Real Madrid high five </span></strong></h5>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">When the injured Silva was replaced by teenager, Kelechi Iheanacho, the warm reception from the home support confirmed this was not considered a maverick call by Manuel Pellegrini. There were no moans, no exclamations of surprise. They wanted the teenager, too.<br />
Up to that point Silva hardly had any influence on the game. IManchester City unable to break down a Real Madrid side that was surprisingly well-organised and content to sit with tight defensivedisplay. They visitors looked like they were content to wait out a draw here and finish the job at the replay in Madrid with a full squad available.<br />
The game missed its star turn, no doubt of that. Ronaldo&#8217;s return to Manchester was the snap in the elastic and when his name was missing from the team-sheet, City fans were no doubt torn between delight at his absence, and disappointment at the loss of the spectacle.<br />
It is mixed blessings for City that the loss of David Silva is not the hammer blow it would once have been to the club in europe, even so what appeared to be a hamstring tweak after 40 minutes could have a longer term effect than a single game. Silva may play no further part in City&#8217;s season if the injury is as serious at it looked, and the sympathy he elicited from the away team suggested as much.<br />
Yet if the news is bad for Silva it is possibly worse for Raheem Sterling, fast drifting in mediocrity after his £50million transfer from Liverpool. Sterling appears to have lost his verve and inventiveness, on the big occasion.</p>
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<h5 class="imageCaption"><strong><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-18929" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/524590250-e1461703131458.jpg" alt="524590250-e1461703131458" width="610" height="343" /><br />
Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho watching city goal keeper Joe Hart make a close range save from Pepe</strong></h5>
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<p class="mol-para-with-font">The visitors did not offer much. It was obvious Ronaldo was sorely missed by his side, he is indeed very influential for Madrid on big game nights like this. He has played 36 of the last 37 games in Europe, and the one time he sat out previously, his team went down 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund. without Ronaldo they are missing quite a lot of their fear factor. Ronaldo destroyed Wolfsburg in the previous round, and obviously could have done the same here. He sat on the sidelines, almost distracted. Madrid offered little without him, too, Hart untroubled in the first 45 minutes, Madrid&#8217;s routes to goal pedestrian aside from the odd spark of invention from Modric.</p>
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<h5 class="mol-para-with-font"><img class="alignnone wp-image-18925" src="https://konniemoments.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/kompanybale-cropped_1s46f1s9q6hi41uucx3innr8qq.jpg" alt="kompanybale-cropped_1s46f1s9q6hi41uucx3innr8qq" width="661" height="419" /><strong>City captain Vicent kompany marking Real Madrid winger Garet Bale</strong></h5>
<p class="mol-para-with-font"><strong>No</strong>t that City dazzled. Kevin De Bruyne is the key to it these days and he saw plenty of the ball but to little effect. In the 23rd minute, he found Aguero who completed a neat turn to take up a good position, but Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas read it well, and kicked clear.<br />
A minute later Pepe was rightly booked for a spectacularly late and rash challenge on De Bruyne, and howls of outrage greeted a lunge by Sergio Ramos that took out Fernandinho soon after. He certainly made contact on his follow through, but replays showed he had taken the ball cleanly first and referee Cuneyt Cakir was right to take no further action against the player.<br />
It wasn&#8217;t a dirty game although, before his disappearance, Silva did manage to get booked for a needless foul on Bale. Like the game in the first-half at least, he wasn&#8217;t really going anywhere at the time.</p>
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