Manchester City beat Bayern Munich 3–0.
Erling Haaland fanned Manchester City’s 3-0 goal. PDO
Bayern Munich and Manchester City last met in the Champions League in November 2014.
Then City When Agüero scored a hat trick at the Etihad in the home team’s 3–2 win. The coach of the Bavarians was one Pep Guardiola.
So a lot has changed in just over eight years. Actually, only the venue remained the same.
This time, the biggest target was targeted to Erling Haaland. The Norwegian was signed to City just to win the Champions League and he had quite a respectable record against Bayern.
In the seven previous meetings, the Viking striker had scored five goals – but lost each time.
Resentment was clearly visible in the way Haaland galloped the Bayern goalkeeper by Yann Sommer to the feet after a quarter of a game. The striker was close to knocking both the Swiss and the ball into the net, but in the end Sommer raked the game tool over the sideline.
in the 22nd minute Jack Grealish flicked the ball quickly to Haaland’s foot. The Norwegian had time to even set up his shot, but he hit the ball with the number one straight into Sommer’s lap.
The probabilities already started to turn towards Haaland’s success. The attacker had scored a goal every 46 minutes of play on average this season.
A dream move
Bayern focused too much on the striker who changed his hairstyle. It showed in the half-hearted and completely ineffective way in which Jamal Musiala tried to scratch the ball From Rodri at almost half an hour.
The Spaniard rounded the Bayern star and bombed a completely unstoppable top corner drive with his weaker foot. Rodri’s crosser sent the ball in a wonderful arc into the Bayern net while Sommer raked in an empty net.
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Yann Sommer was unable to prevent Rodri’s opening goal. PDO
Moments later, City should have already been 2–0 ahead, when İlkay Gündoğan was able to shoot at a practically empty goal. However, Sommer performed one of the most amazing leg saves in the history of the sport, even though he was already lying face up on the grass.
City was so much better in the opening period that Guardiola must have regretted at the break that the lead was not one goal bigger. However, the second period started with a City win Ederson’s on the prevention cavalcade.
Especially the former City player Leroy Sané applied for equalization in a pinch.
Sané, who switched from Manchester to Munich in the summer of 2020, still received applause from the Etihad home crowd in the warm-up, but the further the second period progressed, the quieter the atmosphere became.
A relieving second
City needed another goal. Guardiola’s solution was to take the battered Kevin de Bruyne away and send the world champion Julian Alvarez to the field.
Just a couple of minutes later, the Argentinian followed from the penalty spot, how Bernardo Silva enjoyed Haaland’s delicious serving of the home team’s 2–0 goal. The situation was started by Grealish’s wonderful hair, with which he caught the ball Dayot Upamecano from the legs.
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Bernardo Silva powerfully headed City’s second goal. PDO
The Frenchman probably won’t appear again in a week’s time in the deciding part. Bayern’s new coach Thomas Tuchel ran her hair in disbelief as she watched the topper stir
Haaland’s internal goal clock left that much, because the Norwegian had to wait until the 76th minute to score. John Stones rose to the highest point and dropped the ball to the back post, from which Haaland slid it in with a decisive feeling for City’s 3–0 lead.
The home team’s performance was so convincing that Bayern can even be satisfied with “only” three goals behind. The Germans’ absolute best player was Sommer, who made several top saves.
It rained heavily in Manchester throughout the match. Bayern will have to head home with a cold shower.
There was no more sportsmanship left for the second leg of next Wednesday. City will not let the budding semi-final spot slip away.
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Bayern München’s European dreams fell at the latest with Haaland’s 3–0 goal. PDO
Benfica lost
At the same time, Benfica, who performed shyly in Lisbon, lost decisively to Inter 0–2. The Blue and Blacks arrived in Portugal on a six-match winless streak, but it was snapped Nicolò Barella and substitute player Romelu Lukaku’s (hard) with goals.
The defeat was Benfica’s first of the season in the Champions League.