Champions League, Copenhagen-Manchester City 1-3, goals from De Bruyne, Mattsson, Silva, Foden

Mission accomplished. City returns from Copenhagen with a 3-1 which puts the threat on qualification, at the end of a match dominated but sealed only in the 92nd minute by Phil Foden. Two goals for the return leg on March 6th are a nice buffer for the holders who don’t want to give up the cup, who complicated their lives in the Danish capital by giving Copenhagen the momentary 1-1 goal when they seemed capable of sweeping away their opponents . However, the 7th victory out of 7 in the Champions League arrived, the 11th in a row in all competitions, the one that continues to remind us that City will also think that it is impossible or almost impossible to repeat last year’s treble, but they want to keep trying.

THE KEYS

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Foden sealed the victory and made the return almost a formality, but the best for Guardiola were Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva, and not just because they scored the first two goals. The Belgian, who in 7 games since returning from a 5-month break has scored or participated in 8 goals, opened with a pool shot to make it 1-0 in the 10th minute and closed in the 92nd minute with an assist for Foden. The Portuguese, mainly on the center left in the line of attacking midfielders behind the dull Haaland, intelligently found the goal of the new lead right before the break and as usual did everything that was needed to get the team moving. The negative notes for Pep are the injury of Jack Grealish, forced to abandon his first start after over a month in the 21st minute due to a muscle problem, and Ederson’s mistake which cost Mattsson’s splendid equaliser. Conceding too many goals remains City’s imperfection: in 37 matches of the season, only 11 times have the champions managed to keep a clean sheet. Copenhagen played the game they were supposed to, even defending with five men in the second half to avoid sinking. He almost did it, but that goal scored in the 92nd minute really hurt.

THE MATCH

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City dominates from the start and takes the lead in the 10th minute with De Bruyne, who passes Grabara with a pool shot after being freed in the area by Foden. Guardiola loses Grealish in the 21st minute, but two minutes later he comes close to doubling the lead with an own goal attempt by Vavro prevented only by the crossbar. Instead of doing so, however, City conceded the second goal of the match: it happened in the 34th minute, when a missed clearance by Ederson ended up first in Elyounoussi, who had his shot blocked by Aké, then at the feet of Mattsson, who invents a right foot unstoppable from the edge. City took the lead again before the break with Bernardo Silva, who in the 46th minute anticipated Grabara’s exit with a splendid left-footed touch from the edge of the six-yard box. The hosts start again with the 5-man defense and the attacking winger Elyounoussi who sacrifices himself as right back. City continues to control the game, but Copenhagen defends with order. The 3-1 only arrived in the 92nd minute, with Foden collecting an assist from De Bruyne in the center of the area and securing the quarter-finals.