Joe Camporeale-US PRESSWIRE
Last night’s Champions League soccer match between Real Madrid and Manchester City was dubbed the ‘£1bn’ game, due to accumulative value of all the players involved. However, it was the fistful of Euros that was the concern prior to kick off.
As the team bus waited to pick up Cristiano Ronaldo and co an overly efficient traffic warden decided to issue the coach a ticket.
Of course, as Los Merengues used to be known as the high-spending Galactacos, such financial inconveniences worry them not. The players took their time to strut to the bus, before heading for the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. The likes of Sergio Ramos even took time to sign autographs for the fans.
When they got there they had a game on their hands. City were the first to score, with a rolled Edin Dzeko finish around the hour mark. Twice Real had to come from behind to equalize. A beautiful, curling right-footed shot from Marcelo tied it up at 1-1 shortly after, and a late finish from substitute Karim Benzema made it 2-2 late on, after an Aleksandar Kolarov free kick gave City another lead.
In stoppage time, Ronaldo unleashed a deceptive strike that slid past Vincent Kompany before skidding and turning beyond Joe Hart, who hardly had time to sight it.
As the game finished 3-2 the Bernabéu erupted. Ronaldo was ‘happy’ again, and Jose Mourinho was sliding up the touchline.
Perhaps Manchester City should have parked the bus in front of goal, much like Chelsea did on their way to a Champions League title last season.
