Khusanov alarm bells, De Bruyne done: 3 things learned in Man City v Real Madrid
Man City crashed out of the Champions League after being comfortably beaten by Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.
The Premier League champions made the trip to Spain for the match on Wednesday (19 February) needing to overturn a 3-2 deficit from the first leg of their knockout play-off tie.
However, a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick by the hour-mark put the tie beyond any doubt, with Nico Gonzalez’s goal barely even registering as a consolation for Pep Guardiola’s side in a 6-3 aggregate defeat.
It was a dismal all-round performance from Man City at the Santiago Bernabeu, who will have plenty to reflect on in the wake of this defeat.
Here, Football Insider takes a look at three things we learned about Guardiola’s team following that defeat in Madrid.
Abdukodir Khusanov alarm bells ringing already
After a challenging debut against Chelsea, this was another really difficult night for the Premier League champions’ January addition from Lens.
Khusanov was given the run around by the Madrid attack, and in particular Vinicius Junior, with the 20-year-old looking a long way away from being at the required level.
Of course at his age there is time for him to develop and improve, but Man City may not be able to give him the time to do that.
With Manuel Akanji already out John Stones being forced off with another injury early on in the Bernabeu, Guardiola may have to continue to use Khusanov in upcoming games.
On the basis of this and other performances, that may give opposition attacks someone to target.
| Abdukodir Khusanov stats vs Real Madrid (from SofaScore) | Total |
| Duels Won | 2/5 |
| Possession Lost | 6 |
| Fouls | 1 |
| Tackles | 1 |
| Dribbled Past | 2 |
| Clearances | 3 |
Omar Marmoush falls back to earth after Newcastle hat-trick
After Erling Haaland’s injury against Newcastle at the weekend, it was Omar Marmoush who led the line at centre-forward for Man City against Real Madrid.
The Egyptian had scored an excellent hat-trick while playing off Haaland in that emphatic victory over the Magpies.
Here though, he cut an isolated figure playing the role the Norwegian often employs, struggling to offer his side an attacking outlet as their defence struggled.
While Haaland will often be quiet throughout matches, he can seemingly still pop up with a poacher’s finish in the box to help turn the game in his side’s favour at any time.
Marmoush never looked like doing that here, until his stoppage time free kick hit the bar to allow Gonzalez to tap in that futile rebound.
So while the January signing from Eintracht Frankfurt is a promising one, it will be hard for him to fully step into the Haaland role immediately based on this performance.
Kevin De Bruyne’s glittering Man City career is over
Even as his side chased the game, one player Guardiola elected not to turn to from his bench was Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian has struggled for game time this season, with Rio Ferdinand describing De Bruyne’s situation as “disheartening” as he warmed down on the pitch with the other unused substitutes at full-time.
The fact that is as close as he got to the pitch in this feels telling about where he stands at Man City, given the importance of this game and the challenge they faced to turn it around.
So with his contract at the Etihad expiring at the end of this season, some may see this snub from Guardiola as another indicator that De Bruyne is headed for the exit door and his days of producing magic at City are long gone.