Man City's Champions League defeat by Real Madrid solves £19million problem

A disastrous campaign took another harsh turn for Manchester City as their Champions League exit was confirmed - but their loss was a potential €23million (£19m) gain for Real Madrid.

Pep Guardiola's side travelled to Spain for the second leg of their knockout-stage play-off encounter with muted aspirations. Jude Bellingham's last-minute intervention saw City lose the first leg 3-2 at home one week ago, and alleged concerns over Erling Haaland's fitness meant he was an unused substitute at the Bernabeu.

Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe's hat-trick helped seal a 3-1 win on the night for Real to advance as dominant 6-3 victors on aggregate. And president Florentino Perez will be over the moon with the impact it could have on the Spanish powerhouse's coffers.

In fact, it would have represented a significant budgetary blow had Los Blancos not managed to reach at least the last 16. That's after the reigning kings of Europe set a target of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals as their minimum this term.

Instead, the two-sided toppling of the Premier League titleholders keeps alive their goal of making it to the last eight. And Real will discover their fate on Friday as to whether they'll be facing Bayer Leverkusen or bitter nemeses Atletico Madrid in the next round.

Relevo reported that reaching the last 16 of Europe's top tournament will result in a windfall of €11m (£9.1m). And Carlo Ancelotti's side will be rewarded with another €12.5m (£10m) or so if they make it one step further to return to the quarters (£19m in total).

That's without including any potential prize money to come after that stage should the Spaniards make another deep run at defending their crown. Any failure to make the last eight means Real will have a sizeable hole in their budget for the season, and the competition has really stepped up in this season's knockout stages.

The reformatted Champions League has brought with it an increased prize pot, which now totals around £2.07billion. That includes a bump of around 3% for reaching the quarter-finals.

It's estimated Real had raked in around £66m in prize money after navigating the league phase, which is roughly in line with what they had earned at the conclusion of the group stage last season. However, they could bank as much as £119m if they clinch the crown once again, which is about 5% more than they took from winning the title nine months ago.

City's superior coefficient means they still earned more prize money than certain teams that placed above them in the league phase, like Aston Villa. However, their earnings are now capped at around £64m or so after bowing out in brutal fashion.