Pep Guardiola returned to haunt the Bernabeu once again tonight.

The former Barcelona manager orchestrated a brilliant performance from Manchester City, with the Premier League champions winning 2-1 against Real Madrid.

Isco had given the hosts an undeserved lead, but Gabriel Jesus drew the sides level on 78 minutes.

Five minutes later, City were awarded a penalty for a foul on Raheem Sterling, with Kevin De Bruyne stepping up and ending the club's woes from spot kicks in recent times.

Sergio Ramos was sent off on 86 minutes to well and truly put City in the driving seat ahead of the second-leg.

In truth, Real Madrid were awful in front of their own fans, with Zinedine Zidane's side reluctant to commit bodies forward and test City's defence - who lost Aymeric Laporte in the first-half.

Vinicius contributed with an assist, but the Brazilian was pretty woeful out on the left-wing.

As for Karim Benzema, the less said the better.

The Frenchman had one header saved by Ederson in the opening 45 minutes and that was literally all the Los Blancos front man contributed.

Amazingly, Benzema had just 18 touches in the game and he was on the pitch for the full 90 minutes.

That's an average of one touch every five minutes...

Benzema is renowned as Real's key creative force, demonstrating just how good City were in defence.

Guardiola's tactics were questioned just before kick-off, with Sterling, Sergio Aguero and David Silva all on the bench.

De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva were also deployed as 'false nines', while Gabriel Jesus operated as a left-winger.

But the tactics worked and it's further proof that no one has the right to doubt Guardiola's complex methods in big games.

The guy is a professor of football and the Real Madrid fans will be sick of the sight of him.