Real Madrid French defender Raphael Varane made two costly mistakes that helped Manchester City qualify to the quarter-final of the Champions League as they played without captain Sergios Ramos; it was a horror show from the french man who made blunder after blunder.
Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling both scored on the night to put their team won 4-2 on aggregate, Karim Benzema got on the score sheet for the Spanish Champions but made little difference.
In the opening minute of the match, Varane lost possession in his half to Gabriel Jesus, who passed to Sterling for a tap-in goal. However, Karim Benzema scored with a header from a Rodrygo cross to cut the deficit to one goal in the 28-minute.
But things took a bad turn when Raphael Varane who is usually calm on the calm failed to deal with a pass which he intended to pass to Courtois but fell kindly for Jesus who took full advantage of the error to put the match beyond Real Madrid’s reach to put his team ahead 2-1.
It was a night to forget for the French defender, who is regarded as one of the world’s best defenders considering rock-solid stats and rarely takes a wrong foot.
Consequently, he owned up to his error after the match.
“I wanted to show my face. I got it wrong, this is one me, and we are out. I am sorry for my teammates. I am sad that we are out. This has not happened many times in my career now. We must show character because it has been a hard night.”
The Laliga Champions played without their captain Sergio Ramos who partners Raphael Varane at the back through suspension because of his red card in the 1st-leg at the Santiago Bernabeu in February. This marks the end of the road for the Zidane led team who will not be playing in the quarter-final for the first time since the French man took over at Real Madrid.
Manchester City now has a quarter-final fixture with Lyon, who knocked out Italian giant Juventus 2-2 with Lyon qualifying on away goals.
