Real Madrid's Antonio Rudiger takes swipe at Man City after shutting down Erling Haaland: 'They were not dangerous'

• Madrid and City shared the spoils
• Haaland drew a blank
• Rudiger takes swipe after stopping Haaland

WHAT HAPPENED? A sublime long-range strike from Vinicius Jr. opened the scoring on Tuesday evening at the Santiago Bernabeu, which was cancelled out by another stellar effort from Kevin De Bruyne in the second half. However, it was a quiet outing from Haaland, who managed just 21 touches, eight fewer than City No.1 Ederson, with the Norwegian being kept under close watch by Rudiger throughout the 90 minutes.

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WHAT THEY SAID: Rudiger felt Real were easily able to keep City at bay in the first leg of the semi-final tie, as he told beIN Sports: "We got the goal a bit late so we feel a bit like we could have got out with more. But it's no problem, the tie is definitely on and we can go with confidence to Manchester. At the end of the day they were not dangerous. They had possession, we knew that this would happen... but most importantly they were not dangerous. Obviously, their goal was quality from De Bruyne."

Pressed on whether the Spanish giants are confident of winning the second leg in Manchester, Rudiger added: "We are Real Madrid. We are always confident."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Haaland did have a couple of sights of goal early in the match but could not get past an alert Thibaut Courtois. However, he remains the top scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals after scoring in both legs against Bayern Munich in the quarter-final.

IN THREE PHOTOS:

Getty Images

Getty Images

Getty Images

WHAT NEXT? Haaland should be fired up to prove his mettle when Manchester City welcome Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium on May 17 for the return leg.