For 90 captivating minutes in their Champions League elimination round on Tuesday, Manchester City and Real Madrid represented exactly how far tip top level European football has advanced lately and the amount more engaging for fans it has become.
It was not only the dramatization in an exhilarating first leg - the way that they consolidated for seven goals, with City coming out 4-3 champs, nor that Real kept the challenge alive by multiple times decreasing two-goal shortages, yet the sheer quality that the two sides brought to the Etihad Stadium.
The days when games in the last option phases of European contest, especially first legs, were cagey, negative, strategic issues, have fortunately gone, supplanted by the sort of start to finish activity that infers b-ball's relentless exchanging among forward and defense.
"The two groups need to assault and have the quality to play. Football is an awesome scene," said City director Pep Guardiola as he considered the game.
However, it would be inappropriate to see the gamble taking as arrogant or the high scoring as basically the aftereffect of poor defending. Groups at this level, as Real and City reminded everybody, are loaded with remarkable ability.
Yet again they have advances who can score goals from nothing, as striker Karim Benzema demonstrated with his glorious flick to carry Real once more into the game at 2-1.
The Frenchman is seemingly the most clinical finisher in the advanced game, albeit a case could likewise be made for another productive Champions League scorer - Bayern Munich's Polish forward Robert Lewandowski.
City had begun the night with a goal following 94 seconds from Kevin De Bruyne and how Pep Guardiola's side had Real's defense shaking right off the bat had a lot to do with the presentation of the Belgian worldwide.
Is there a superior all-round midfielder on the planet than De Bruyne? The 30-year-old can complete like a striker, convey accuracy passing from any reach, flood from the midway line and lead a counter-assault as well as separating resistance moves with a very much read capture attempt or convenient tackle.
Tireless PACE
The game was played at tireless speed however there were still snapshots of midfield make from two of the most tastefully satisfying entertainers in the game - Real's Croatian maestro Luka Modric and City's Portuguese playmaker Bernardo Silva.
The specialized capacity was represented in two surprising minutes in the final part.
Initial, 36-year-old Fernandinho, typically an intense cautious midfield destroyer, conveyed a gently drifted cross for Phil Foden's gone to make it 3-1 however was then uncovered by the ability and speed of Vinicius Jr who burst away from him to score an awesome independent goal in answer.
The best groups in Europe benefit from the best strategic penetrating, first class sports science and actual arrangement and in Guardiola and Real coach Carlo Ancelotti, they are directed by men who know how to win the Champions League.
City were the more unique side, making the most possibilities, and will feel they might have won by a greater edge.
In any case, the psychological component is pivotal at this level, as Ancelotti noted when he applauded how his group had the option to continue to hook their direction back into the game.
"These players don't lose their psyches when things are troublesome. The initial 20 minutes were really troublesome, however after that we had the option - gradually, gradually - to return into the game and keep our opportunity of capability open," he said.
There are a lot of pundits of present day football - of the cash that streams all through the game, the proprietors, the game's administration, corporate greed and the centralization of force in a little gathering of huge clubs.
In any case, with regards to undiluted quality to appreciate and exciting fights to appreciate on the field, we have really have never had it so great.
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