It never ends like this. For Real Madrid, no. Not for this Real Madrid, the Champions League champions and lords of Europe.
Still, it did. They were severely beaten. utterly degraded. They were chewed up and spit out like they were some muck in the farmers league, also known as the Premier League.
On Wednesday night, Manchester City dominated Real Madrid, winning 4-0 in the second leg of their Champions League semifinal to eliminate the defending champions.
Aside from overcoming Frank Lampard's Chelsea twice, they had performed admirably to go to the semi-finals despite a dismal domestic campaign. Even after the first leg, their aura and mystery persisted in this competition.
However, due to the legs being switched from their previous meeting from the previous season, which saw Man City famously crumble beneath the weight of the Santiago Bernabeu and its 13 European Cups at the time (soon to be 14), the tables had been turned.
Man City played their Uno reversal card, but generally you have to cut off Real Madrid's head to realize they are actually dead. It turns out that when Los Blancos were in trouble in Spain, they ought to have been buried. They were penalized.
People were debating if this was the best performance of the Pep Guardiola era by halftime at the Etihad Stadium with Man City leading by two goals. The only action completed in the opposition's half was Toni Kroos' speculative 30-yard effort that bounced over the woodwork, showing how little pressure the defending champions had applied to their rivals.
Real Madrid didn't do much with the ball when they did have it and had trouble controlling it. Legendary midfielders like Luka Modric and Toni Kroos were aware that being burned by West Brom's James Morrison would spell the end of their careers, much like Gary Neville did in his notorious playing-day farewell.
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