‘Stupid’ – Steven Gerrard slams two Real Madrid players after Man City defeat | Football

Steven Gerrard took aim at two Real Madrid players during their Champions League defeat to Manchester City.

Man City boosted their hopes of automatic qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League and piled the pressure on struggling Real boss Xabi Alonso with a 2-1 win at the Bernabeu.

Rodrygo rifled the hosts ahead midway through the first half but Man City scored twice in quick succession to lead at the break.

Nico O’Reilly prodded home after Real Madrid failed to deal with a corner before Erling Haaland scored a penalty after he was bundled over by Antonio Rudiger.

Real Madrid pushed for an equaliser in the second half but Man City kept the Spanish giants at bay to climb to fourth in the Champions League table.

With the top-eight advancing automatically to the knockout stages of the Champions League, Pep Guardiola’s side are in a strong position ahead of their final two games.

But Real Madrid’s second European defeat of the season leaves the La Liga side eighth and increases the pressure on Alonso, with reports suggesting his job would at risk should they lose to Man City.

Gerrard was highly critical of Real Madrid’s defending against the Premier League giants, slamming Alvaro Carreras for his role in Man City’s opener and describing Rudiger’s foul for the Haaland penalty as ‘stupid’.

‘It’s really poor from Real Madrid all over,’ Gerrard said on TNT Sports when analysing Manchester City’s first goal at the Bernabeu.

‘Jude Bellingham loses the first duel, he gets beat in the air. The keeper [Thibaut Courtois] is poor with the save but Carreras… you cannot allow a player that space in the box.

‘Carreras is looking around the stadium – I don’t know what he’s looking for because his man has got two or three yards of space to tap into the goal.

‘You cannot switch off like that and ball-watch and allow any Man City player the freedom to tap in.’

Fellow pundit Joleon Lescott said he was ‘not surprised’ Rudiger penalised for a ‘naive’ tackle as he ‘loves contact’.

Ex-Liverpool captain Gerrard then added: ‘It’s stupid [from Rudiger]. Xabi Alonso has a huge problem because Man City are winning this game and haven’t got out of second gear.

‘They proved in the last ten minutes of the first half that they can’t defend.

‘We’ve given Rudiger credit many a time because he’s a great man-marker, he likes to get physical and put forwards off by getting tight.

‘But this is stupid – you can’t do that in the box with VAR, he was never going to get away with that. It was a blatant penalty.’

Speaking at full-time, Gerrard continued: ‘I certainly expected more from Real Madrid. I was disappointed by them.

‘Man City deserved the three points but it wasn’t a performance from a team [Real Madrid] that suggests they want the manager out.

‘But they did lose the big moments in the game, like Rudiger’s stupidity for the penalty, and Man City thoroughly deserved the win.’

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