Manchester City played their part in a rip-roaring Champions League tie at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night, as they and Real Madrid played out a memorable semi-final first-leg.
Ultimately, the spoils would be shared after a fascinating tactical matchup between Pep Guardiola in the City dugout and Carlo Ancelotti in the home dugout.
Guardiola's City had the upper hand in the first-half, but found themselves 1-0 down thanks to a simply stunning strike from the brilliant Vinicius Jr. Quaintly, it was Real who would have the better of proceedings in the second-half, but ultimately had to settle for a draw after another stunner from City's maestro Kevin de Bruyne.
Same spot, same result 💥#UCL pic.twitter.com/SYxChXH85P
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 10, 2023
With City under the kosh for the opening period of the second-half, de Bruyne's goal marked a late turning point, where they suddenly grabbed control of proceedings again - but struggled to make any decisive moves in the final third.
Erling Haaland, in an extremely rare instance, was effectively handled by the Real defence and isolated out of the game - leaving some wondering if Argentinean World Cup winner Julian Alvarez could have made a difference off the bench.
Sergio Aguero thinks Guardiola should have called on Alvarez
In fact, City manager Guardiola didn't make a single change off the bench. Ancelotti, by contrast, made three, with Aurélien Tchouameni in particular making an impact in midfield when he was subbed in.
City legend Sergio Aguero was one of those who thought that Guardiola could have made better use of his bench to take a decisive lead into the second-leg at the Etihad next Wednesday.
In particular, Aguero felt his fellow Argentinean Julian Alvarez should have been called on to add another threat to City's attacking play. In fact, Aguero went even further, pushing for Alvarez to get more game time at the Etihad, even with the scarcely believable goalscoring form of Erling Haaland up front.
Speaking on the AlbicelesteTalk podcast, Aguero said:
What I don't understand is why he didn't put Julian [on]. I wonder...but, well, it's Pep. If it was up to me, I would play Julian in almost every game because we need him to be active and for him to have a spark.
With City coming into a crucial period of the season in which they will attempt to pull off only the second treble in English football history, they will need to rely on their squad depth. It is likely Julian Alvarez will get his chance in at least one of the big games to come - but time will tell if Guardiola's lack of action off the bench will cost him in the second-leg against Real Madrid.
SEE ALSO: Why Is Nobody Talking About Vinícius Jr As Maybe The Best In The World?
