MANCHESTER: Jude Bellingham struck a stoppage-time goal to earn Champions League holders Real Madrid a 3-2 victory away to Manchester City in the first leg of their knockout phase playoff.

Kylian Mbappe and Brahim Diaz also struck for Real, to cancel out a double from City’s Erling Haaland, to give Madrid a decisive advantage for the second leg in Spain on February 19.

Elsewhere Borussia Dortmund won 3-0 away to Sporting Lisbon, Juventus grabbed a 2-1 lead over PSV Eindhoven while Paris Saint-Germain won the all-French tie 3-0 at Brest.

Haaland opened the scoring with his first career goal against Real in the 19th minute when Josko Gvardiol chested the ball down so the 24-year-old Norwegian could volleyed into the far corner. The goal was confirmed after a four-minute VAR check for offside.

Mbappe levelled in the 60th minute with a rebound off a free kick, awkwardly looping the ball off his shin over goalkeeper Ederson and into the net.

Haaland struck again from the penalty spot in the 80th minute after Dani Ceballos tripped Phil Foden on the fringe of the box for his 48th goal in 49 Champions League games.

But City have struggled to hold onto leads this season, conceding seven goals in the final 15 minutes of Champions League matches. Their latest fade-out was punished as former City player Diaz pounced on Ederson’s failure to deal with a shot from Vinicius Jr to tap home in the 86th minute.

England international Bellingham scored the winner in the 92nd minute to groans after a poor pass back from Mateo Kovacic to Rico Lewis allowed Vinicius to seize possession and cross so Bellingham could slip in front of John Stones to score.

Bellingham said: “It was a weird one. We played some of our best football of the season and ended up behind. We were always confident something would drop for us. I don’t care what form City are in, they are still an unbelievable team. It’s always tricky to play against them and we finally took the chance at the end.”

The clubs are clashing for a fourth consecutive year, having met in four Champions League knockout ties since 2020, although never this early in Europe’s elite competition.

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