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| Rodrygo Goes of Real Madrid during the UEFA Champions League match, Quarter-finals, first leg, between Real Madrid and Manchester City played at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on April 9, 2024 in Madrid Spain. |
Real Madrid ace Rodrygo said that "whoever errs least will pass" through to the Champions League semifinals after his team drew 3-3 with Manchester City on Tuesday.
After back-to-back last four showdowns, the two European behemoths met at the quarterfinal stage this time and put on a first leg for the ages in the Bernabeu.
Rodrygo fired Los Blancos 2-1 up after Bernardo Silva snuck the visitors ahead inside three minutes.
And while Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol let rip with fantastic shots from outside of the box into Andriy Lunin's top corner, Fede Valverde guaranteed that matters are all square going into a nailbiting decider at the Etihad just over a week from now.
Asked to give his thoughts on the match post-game, Rodrygo said that his team "wanted to win" and "come out with a positive result".
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"We've drawn, but whatever. We failed a bit in attack and conceded goals that we shouldn't have. We've got a week to work, with a game in between. Let's go back for more," he demanded.
Rodrygo accepted that Madrid came back well after City twice took the lead, though.
"It's always difficult to get over a 1-0 deficit so early, but yes, we came back," he noted.
"From there we were able to control everything a little bit more. We knew we could do damage on counter-attacks, after recovering."
Rodrygo said that he and his teammates know they should have closed down their opponents quicker at long range, but now "there's not much left to say" and "nothing can be done anymore".
"We've got to correct it and continue next week," he stressed.
After playing the position to great effect nine days ago at the same ground, in a 2-0 win in La Liga against Athletic Club where he bagged both goals, Rodrygo again returned to the left wing for spells of the action as Vinicius Jr. drifted centrally.
"They didn't expect it because Vini's always there and today we did it differently, [employing] a new tactic. It went well, even though the result wasn't what we wanted," Rodrygo said.
Then asked what will be the keys to victory for either team on April 17, Rodrygo tipped that "whoever errs the least" will take on the winner of Bayern Munich versus Arsenal for a place in the Wembley final.