Real Madrid has dumped 10-man Manchester City out of the Champions League for the fourth time in five seasons, as a 2-1 victory at Etihad Stadium completed a 5-1 aggregate victory for the Spanish giants.
City had to make history in overturning a 3-0 first-leg deficit against the 15-time European champions, but a difficult task became an impossible one on Tuesday when captain Bernardo Silva was shown an early red card for handling the ball on his own line.
Vinicius Junior converted from the spot to kill the tie as a contest as City exited to Madrid for the third consecutive year.
Erling Haaland levelled for City before half-time, but Vinicius won the game with virtually the final kick of the ball.
Once again, City’s quest for Champions League glory came unstuck as Madrid proved they have the knack for finding their best come the knockout stages of this competition, despite an unconvincing form in La Liga.
Alvaro Arbeloa could afford to leave Kylian Mbappe on the bench on his return from injury, while Jude Bellingham could also be back fit by the time they face a likely quarterfinal against Bayern Munich.
City needed a fast start to have any chance of becoming the first side to ever overturn a three-goal deficit against Madrid in European competition, but nearly found themselves further behind inside a minute.
Federico Valverde was the unlikely Real hero last week with the first hat-trick of his career.
The Uruguayan had an easier chance than for any of his three goals at the Santiago Bernabeu seven days ago, but fired meekly into the arms of Gianluigi Donnarumma after his run from midfield went untracked.
City did briefly threaten to bring the tie to life, but came up against a familiar foe in Thibaut Courtois.
The giant Belgian goalkeeper repelled efforts from Rayan Cherki and Rodri before Madrid’s threat on the counterattack killed off any lingering City hopes.
Vinicius had initially been flagged offside in the build-up, before his effort was turned wide by Silva’s left arm.
But a VAR review established that the Brazilian was onside, and left referee Clement Turpin with little choice but to dismiss the City captain and point to the penalty spot.
Donnarumma saved a Vinicius penalty in the first leg, but this time, he was sent the wrong way from the spot.
Vinicius should have added plenty more to his 15 goals this season as City pushed forward and left themselves exposed at the back.
Twice, he fired off target with just Donnarumma to beat before half-time.
Haaland now has 43 for club and country, but had netted just twice from open play in his previous 18 games.
Even when the Norwegian did equalise, it came from a mishit as he scuffed a shot past Courtois from Jeremy Doku’s cross.
Courtois failed to reappear for the second half, but his deputy, Andriy Lunin, twice denied Haaland a double.
Both sides had two goals ruled out for offside before Vinicius finally had one count when he swept home Aurelien Tchouameni’s cross deep into stoppage time.
Arbeloa said the likely quarterfinal against Bayern Munich would be very tough.
“We are improving, and we know if we want to have a chance to win against Bayern Munich, we have to be a team and work all together and be really narrow and compact and show a lot of commitment,” he told Amazon Prime.
“Obviously, Bayern Munich will be really difficult”.
City’s Jeremy Doku said the defeat was difficult to take.
“It is a hard reality, but I feel like when you look at the games, it doesn’t feel like they were much better than us. When you look at the score, it feels like it is obvious, but that is not the case,” he told Amazon.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Paris Saint-Germain snuffed out any chance of a Chelsea comeback, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia among the scorers, in a clinical 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge, which took the holders through to the Champions League quarterfinals 8-2 on aggregate.
The Georgian’s early opener was soon followed by a brilliant Bradley Barcola strike, quickly ending Chelsea’s hopes of turning around their 5-2 deficit from the first leg of the last-16 tie last week.
Substitute Senny Mayulu then fired in PSG’s third in the second half, as Luis Enrique’s men march on to a last-eight tie next month against either Liverpool or Galatasaray. The Turkish side go to Anfield with a 1-0 first-leg advantage on Wednesday.
Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze opened his Champions League account with a stunning goal, as his side outclassed Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 at home to reach the quarterfinals with a 3-1 aggregate victory on Tuesday.
Leverkusen somehow weathered a barrage of Arsenal pressure in the opening half an hour, with keeper Janis Blaswich outstanding, until Eze’s screamer from outside the area in the 37th minute put them in control of an awkward last-16 tie.
The tireless Declan Rice made it 2-0 just past the hour mark with a precise low finish, and Leverkusen, who ended Arsenal’s 100 percent record in this season’s competition when they had the better of a 1-1 draw in last week’s first leg, never really threatened a comeback.
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