Welcome to Sportstar’s highlights of the UEFA Champions League 2021-22 semifinal clash between Manchester City and Real Madrid being played at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England.

This is Neeladri Bhattacharjee bringing you the pre-match buildup minute-by-minute updates of this high-voltage clash.

68′ Save! Zinchenko crosses for Laporte into teh Madrid box and the Spain International gets a touch, but Courtois saves it somehow

66′ Foul! Gabriel Jesus is pushed down by Nacho, who has replaced David Alaba and the free kick is taken quickly

65′ City tries to get the ball into the box through a cross form the left, but Real’s defence heads it away

61′ De Bruyne continues to press at the back, but a pass from Courtois is received by Modrix, who passes to Benzema and the Frenchman makes a run into the City box, but his cross is cleared and City goes on attack. End-to-end attack this!

55′ GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLL!!!!!! Vinicius makes a solo run into the City box and a mistake by Fernandinho gives Vinicius space, who finishes in style to make it 3-2

MCI 3-2 RMA

53′ GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLL!!!!!!!! Fernandinho delivers a cross from the right as Foden heads the third in for City

MCI 3-1 RMA

51′ Man City gets the ball back to Ederson and starts building from the bacl, starting with Laporte

48′ Chance! Mahrez gets the ball on the right, carries the ball into the box and shoots with his left foot. The ball hits the post and comes out to fall for Foden, who shoots again. But this time the ball hits Carvajal, who clears the ball away

47′ Manchester City has a sky-blue shirt behind evry Madrid player as Pep looks to mark Ancelotti’s team well enough. His team has given away one goal. It cannot afford to give away another

Second Half Begins!

Half-Time

Manchester City 2-1 Real Madrid

45′ Foul! Gabriel Jesus gets the ball in front of the box, but Kroos puhes him down and City gets another free kick in front of the penalty box. De Bruyne takes the free kick, which hits the wall and the ball goes out of danger

40′ Foul and save! Bernardo gets the ball along the right and tries to cut into his left, but Vinicius pushes him down as City gets a free kick. Mahrez takes it and Courtois makes a flying save

39′ City switches the pay with Foden and Zinchenko trying to deliver a cross from the left, but Real clears the ball for the moment

33′ Benzema gets the ball off a cross from Mendy with a run behind the City defence and flicks the ball into the net. Madrid is back into the game with one goal to show and it is the same man again and again. Karim Benzema!

MCI 2-1 RMA

32′ Real Madrid tries to attack on the counter, but is forced back to its half with Pep’s side pressing high continuously

29′ Miss! City goes on attack again with three blue shirts i the counter. De Bruyne delivers a pss for Foden, but he shoots off target. What a miss this!

26′ Shot! And now City breaks on the counter and Mahrez gets the ball and goes for goal with his right foot. The ball ends up side-netting

25′ Benzema and Vinicius pair up as Benzema steals the ball on the left and passes to the Brazillian, who was off-side after his shot, the referee raises his flag

23′ De Bruyne presses David Alaba back into his half and then Madrid tries to break on the counter with Modric carrying the ball into the final third — passes to Benzema, who tries to cross on his left, but City clears the ball away 

21′ City’s corner kick, after a headed clearance, falls to Foden, but his shot is blocked by Real this time

18′ Vinicius cuts in from the left, but his cross goes out for a corner kick. The corner kick is cleared by City and the ball after a long kick by Cortouis has Real on the ball till City gets it back again. Ancelotti continues his dead stare from the sidelines as City goes on waves of attack, one after the other

15′ Manchester City back to playing from the back after the attack. Etihad has “Hey Jude” ringing through the stands. What a performance in the first quarter of an hour. De Bruyne tries a shot, which is blocked by the Madrid defence

11′ GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!!!! Jesus gets the ball from through a cross from the left, turns and shoots to bury the ball into the net

MCI 2-0 RMA

9′ City has four men in front, but Cortouis gets the ball through along the right wing for Rodrygo, but Laporte is there to clear the ball away. With every forward pass, the City fans are roaring “C’mon City!” The stadium has seen a Spanish side lose not so long ago

7′ Real Madrid was caught napping as Guardiola’s side attacked with Riyad Mahrez providing the assist and the Belgian putting his name on the score sheet. What a start this has been.

2′ GOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!! Kevin De bRuyne makes run behind the mdrid defence and heads the ball into the net

MCI 1-0 RMA

1′ Real Madrid starts in its navy-blue kit, while City starts in its home kit of sky-blue. City is pressing extremely high with Mendy and Courtois holding fort at the back

12-30 am: Kick Off!

12-25 am: Flags white and blue and Hey Jude reverberate throughout the City of Manchester Stadium as a fully packed stadium welcomes its players as they look for a second UCL final in a row. The time, the stage has arrived.

12-10 am: Manchester City has not lost a Champions League match for 1315 days at home. Its last loss in UCL was to Lyon in September 2018.

12-00 am: Who has an edge and who may stand out tonight? Find all of it in the video below:

11-45 pm: TEAM FORM: Manchester City comes into the match with two wins from its last five matches in all competitions, including a loss to Liverpool in the FA Cup semifinals.

Man City’s last five matches:

• 5-1 Win vs Watford (Premier League)
• 3-0 Win vs Brighton and Hove Albion (Premier League)
• 2-3 Loss vs Liverpool (FA Cup semifinal)
• 0-0 Draw vs Atletico Madrid (UEFA Champions League)
• 2-2 Draw vs Liverpool (Premier League)

Real Madrid’s last five matches:

• 3-1 Win vs Osasuna (LaLiga)
• 3-2 Win vs Sevilla (LaLiga)
• 2-3 Loss vs Chelsea (UEFA Champions League)
• 2-0 Win vs Getafe (LaLiga)
• 3-1 Win vs Chelsea (LaLiga)

11-25 pm: HEAD-TO-HEAD: Manchester City and Real Madrid have met six times in competitive fixtures in the past and each team has won two matches each, while the remaining two matches have ended as draws.

• Manchester City 2-1 Real Madrid
• Real Madrid 1-2 Manchester City
• Real Madrid 1-0 Manchester City
• Manchester City 0-0 Real Madrid
• Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid
• Real Madrid 3-2 Manchester City

11-14 pm: What have the managers said?

Pep Gardiola, Manchester City

Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid

10-53 pm: One of the Starting Lineups out!

Real Madrid Starting XI: Courtois (GK), Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy, Kroos, Modric, Valverde, Rodrygo, Benzema (C), Vinicius Jr.

Manchester City Starting XI: Ederson (GK), Zinchenko, Stones, Ruben Dias (C), Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez

MATCH PREVIEW