Meant for Manchester: You hit an almost insurmountable bulwark. While De Bruyne and Co. tried to lever out the wall in the first few minutes with risky passes, things then leveled off from minute to minute. The faces of those involved twisted: Pep Guardiola showed wrinkles on his forehead, defensive strategist Rodri, who was increasingly struggling with bad passes, shook his head more and more desperately, like his ten teammates.
38 minutes: Atletico dares to go forward for the first time
And Atletico? Adjusted himself nicely in his defence. The team only staged their first own attack in the 38th minute of the game, which ended in a despicable offside position by “right winger” Marcos Llorente.
The appearance of the two nominal strikers Antoine Griezmann and Joao Felix seemed almost tragic: Both were strictly integrated into the defensive system and had no scenes up front. Football isn’t much fun that way. The Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs, who ended the first 45 minutes on time, felt the same way.
Dangerous: De Bruyne’s free-kick
After the break, the spectators could hardly believe their eyes: In the 49th minute Atletico seriously dared to go forward and Llorente actually got a shot on goal – but city keeper Ederson could not pose a threat from 17 meters. De Bruyne, on the other hand, was much closer to scoring after 54 minutes: Oblak reacted strongly in the away box to his free-kick from almost 20 meters out, which went in the direction of the right corner.
In fact, the game was now an idea more open, especially since the defensive ex-Berliner Matheus Cunha, who did not work so strictly, was substituted on at Atletico. But City had the next chance: Aymeric Laporte headed just over the goal from a de Bruyne corner (64′). The Atletico wall was crumbling. And City struck: Substitute Phil Foden played a pass into De Bruynes’ run in the 70th minute, who defeated Oblak with a low shot from 13 yards out on the right – 1-0.
Good starting position for City
Ten minutes later it was almost 2-0, but this time De Bruyne’s 13-metre shot, after Foden’s brilliant set-up, was denied by the multi-legged Atletico defence. So it remained at the hard-fought 1-0, which City will still book as valuable. Because it seems – in view of City’s individual superiority – difficult to imagine that Atletico can turn this result again.
Source: red/sid/dpa