Rüdiger had been booed

Antonio Rüdiger had been booed throughout because the Manchester City support had not forgotten what he did as a Chelsea player to Kevin De Bruyne in the 2021 Champions League final; the forearm smash that put their midfielder out of the game, which they would lose. Rüdiger was a central figure here and, with his Real Madrid team leading through Rodrygo’s early goal, it was his fluffed clearance that played a part in De Bruyne’s 76th-minute equaliser, the goal that looked set to even the score on more than one level. Rüdiger would err again at the end of the first period of extra time, tiptoeing into an excellent position to the left of goal only to slice wide. Joshua Kimmich flies in to head past Arsenal's David Raya Arsenal knocked out by Bayern after Kimmich header secures last-four spot Read more And so it was practically perfect in narrative terms when, at the end of a draining penalty shootout, it was Rüdiger that strode forward to address the kick to win it for Madrid, the one to set up a mouthwatering semi-final against Bayern Munich. Ederson had just been charged with the kick to keep City in it, after his team had thrown away a position of ascendancy in the shootout. The goalkeeper scored. He had stepped forward partly because Pep Guardiola had substituted De Bruyne and Erling Haaland. Now Ederson had to deny Rüdiger. The tension was close to unbearable but Rüdiger sliced through it, driving into the bottom corner and it was the prompt for him to celebrate wildly, running to the other end of the stadium where the Madrid supporters were housed. And for City’s dream of a successful Champions League defence to die, along with that of an outlandish double-treble; for the regrets to bubble furiously.