18 May 2023 , 07:55
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Jack Grealish carved out a slice of Champions League history as his side roared into the Istanbul final at Real Madrid's expense.
Following last week's 1-1 draw in the first leg in the Spanish capital, City overwhelmed their visitors at the Etihad Stadium to secure a 4-0 win and 5-1 aggregate victory.
Bernardo Silva struck twice in the first half as the hosts took control, before an Eder Militao own goal and Julian Alvarez's late strike rounded off the scoring and ensured that City will take on Inter Milan in Turkey on June 3 as they look to win European football's main prize for the first time.
Grealish drew plenty of plaudits for his display on Wednesday night, and he was thrilled when he spoke to BT Sport after the game.
“I am just buzzing to be in this moment," he said. "It is so nice.
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"I don’t think a lot of teams would be able to do that (win 4-0) against Real Madrid. We felt unstoppable. I don’t know what it is.
“I saw a stat the other day about our record here in the Champions League, we have won every game here in the competition – its unbelievable. We feel unstoppable at this season and nobody can beat us: when you see what we did tonight, and against Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig, its unbelievable.”
Grealish impressed as City made it through to the final (Getty Images)Another stat that emerged after the game focused on Grealish's chance creation, with the City man now surpassing Frank Lampard's record for the most opportunities laid on by an English player in a single Champions League season.
Lampard's 34 chances created for Chelsea in the 2007-08 season had topped the list, but Grealish has now moved to 35 with his virtuoso display.
Chelsea great Lampard also created 32 chances in the 2006-07 season and 28 in 2008-09, while David Beckham created 32 for Real Madrid in 2005-06. Meanwhile James Milner holds the record for the English player with the most assists in a Champions League season, laying on nine goals for Liverpool in 2017-18.
Guardiola was delighted with his side (AP)City boss Pep Guardiola lauded his side's win and the strengths they showed.
"At home we feel very comfortable with our people," he said.
"I had a feeling we had one year of pain in our stomach with what happened last season (losing to Real), but today everything went out. It was so painful last season, when people said we lacked character, now we're showing how special they are.
"I've said many times, we don't have to comeback from 3-0, just be ourself. We beat them two seasons ago, last season then happened, but the game this season was similar to last season.
"Today from minute one, we had the feeling that we were ready, so we were calm mentally. I didn't feel nervous or tension, I had the feeling we were ready to produce a good performance."
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