Today's empires, tomorrow's ashes. Manchester City's faint Champions League hopes crumbled in the home of the true kings of Europe as they were mauled 3-1 by Real Madrid on Wednesday and were sent tumbling out of the competition 6-3 on aggregate. The relentless Kylian Mbappe was City's tormentor-in-chief and managed to embarrass the entire defence on his way to his hat-trick.
Ruben Dias failed to cut out Raul Asencio's pass to the Frenchman for the opening goal, while John Stones was also powerless to stop him and was then forced off injured. Mbappe made a fool of the hapless Abdukodir Khusanov and utterly humiliated Josko Gvardiol to bag his second goal, and by the time it came to his third, City had ceased trying to stop him.
It was not just the defence, though. City looked utterly clueless in attack, badly missing the injured Erling Haaland. They finally scored in added time when Nico Gonzalez nudged home on the rebound following Omar Marmoush's crossbar-bothering free-kick, but there was nothing to celebrate. This was a night for mourning for everyone involved with City.
GOAL rates City's players from Santiago Bernabeu...
