In the first round of the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals on Wednesday morning (10th), last year's champions Real Madrid played at home and even though Yannis Oszulia scored a world-beating goal, their rivals Manchester City also had a long-distance shot from Kiyundi Buni, and the match ended 1-1. According to OPTA statistics, Real Madrid have failed to win the first leg of the UEFA Europa League knockout rounds at home on nine occasions, and have progressed to the top of the table on only two occasions, which means that they have nearly 80% chances of going out of the tournament.
The two sides met in the last four of the UEFA Europa League last year, with Real Madrid advancing to the final and winning the Cup. Real Madrid opened the scoring first with a cross from the left side of the field by Kamal Yunga, which led to a powerful shot from the top of the penalty area by Vinz Oszulia. The 22-year-old Brazilian international has played 51 matches in all competitions for the Galaxy this season and has 23 goals and 21 assists, making him the king of the new generation.
After the change of sides, it was City's turn to make a statement. In the 67th minute, Gundogan's cross was returned to him, and Chiyun Dibny also fired a shot from outside the box to equalize the game at 1-1.
As a matter of fact, the two teams are evenly matched in this battle. Although Real Madrid only has 44.3% of the possession rate, it has created 13 shots on goal, which is 3 more than Manchester City, and as for Manchester City, 6 out of 10 shots on goal hit the target, which is 2 more than their opponents, which is obviously more efficient, and the draw is also more favorable to Manchester City.
Looking at the historical data, Real Madrid has failed to win the first leg of the UEFA Europa League knockout stage on 9 occasions in the past, of which 7 times they were eliminated, and only 2 times they progressed to the last 8 of the 1999/00 season, and the last 16 of the 2012/13 season, and they also lost the first leg at home to Manchester United, and then won the second leg on the road to advance, and this time around, we will have to wait and see whether Real Madrid can recover from this situation when they are facing Manchester City, who are also from Manchester. Let's wait and see.
It's worth mentioning that this year's UEFA Europa League knockout matches don't count the visitors' goal difference. Even though Real Madrid's goal was broken by Manchester City in the first round, at least they didn't lose, so the situation isn't too bad, and they may break the fate of their predestination.
