Tom Hancock reflects on City’s Champions League exit at the hands of the unstoppable Kylian Mbappe
Football writer Tom Hancock analyses Manchester City’s 3-1 defeat at Real Madrid as they suffer their earliest UEFA Champions League exit for 12 years.
Manchester City lost for the 13th time in 2024/25 as Kylian Mbappe ran riot for Real Madrid in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League knockout phase playoffs.
Trailing 3-2 after their calamitous late collapse in the first leg back in Manchester, City already faced an uphill task at the Bernabeu, and it didn’t take long for their challenge to become that little bit more difficult.
Mbappe’s fourth-minute goal saw Pep Guardiola’s Premier League champions go behind inside 10 minutes for the ninth time this season in all competitions.
And the relative ease with which the Frenchman scored, lobbing a stranded Ederson after Ruben Dias failed to deal with Raul Asencio’s ball over the top, was just as frustratingly familiar for the visitors.
The unstoppable Mbappe toyed with a disorganised defence for each of his next two goals, as City conceded three or more for the third time in their last eight games.
Having dispatched Newcastle United 4-0 in the Premier League on Saturday, City barely threatened in the Spanish capital.
With Erling Haaland on the bench after coming off injured late in that Newcastle game, they took 76 minutes to register a shot on target.
Nico Gonzalez’s first goal for the club, a straightforward finish into an empty net after Omar Marmoush’s free-kick cannoned back off the crossbar, at least ensured that City avoided drawing a blank for the first time this side of Christmas, but positives were in short supply for Guardiola’s side.
City have now suffered more defeats than in any previous campaign under Guardiola, who is approaching a decade in charge at the Etihad Stadium.
This is also their earliest Champions League exit since 2012/13, when they finished bottom of their group under Roberto Mancini – while Guardiola has failed to lead a team into the last 16 for the first time in his managerial career.
Now that claiming a second continental crown is no longer possible, City’s 2025/26 Champions League qualification hopes could rest on the Premier League receiving a fifth spot for next season’s competition, which ironically their early elimination has not helped.
They head into Sunday’s huge home match against Liverpool fourth in the table but could end the weekend as low as seventh if they lose to the Reds, such is the grippingly tight nature of this season’s race for the top four, or will it be top five?
With the prospect of continental glory gone for another season, City’s final 13 league games are all about doing enough to avoid missing out on Champions League football for the first time since 2010.
Now that the knockout phase playoffs have concluded, the draw for the Champions League round of 16 will take place on Friday 21 February at 11:00 GMT.
Three Premier clubs are involved: Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa, who are seeded first, third and eighth respectively based on their finishing positions in the league phase of the competition.
Liverpool will play either PSG or Benfica, Arsenal will face Feyenoord or PSV Eindhoven and Aston Villa will take on either Borussia Dortmund or Club Brugge.
The first legs of the round of 16 ties will be played on Tuesday 4 March and Wednesday 5 March, with the second legs on Tuesday 11 March and Wednesday 12 March.