Beautiful to look at, but not very effective: This is how Manchester City’s performance against Atlético Madrid can be summarized. Although the team won thanks to superstar De Bruyne, they still owed a lot in front of goal.
Manchester City opened the door to a return to the semi-finals of the Champions League with a work win against Atletico Madrid. The leaders of the English Premier League won the quarter-final first leg against the extremely defensive Spaniards 1-0 (0-0). Kevin De Bruyne (70th) redeemed the million ensemble from star coach Pep Guardiola.
City with DFB star Gündogan
With Ilkay Gündogan as captain, last year’s finalist initially bit his teeth out of the guests. Despite almost 75 percent possession of the ball, there was not a single significant chance in the English rain until the break. Madrid, finalists in 2014 and 2016, defended skilfully with two chains of five, Diego Simeone’s tactics fully paid off.
After the break, however, City became more and more dangerous. A header from Aymeric Laporte (64′) went just over the goal, a little later it was time: Phil Foden served De Bruyne with a clever pass, the Belgian pushed into the far corner with an overview.
second leg next week
City have never won club football’s most coveted trophy, despite cash injections from Abu Dhabi. A year ago, the Sky Blues failed in the final at Chelsea. Atletico is also missing the handle pot in the showcase. The second leg will take place in Madrid on April 13th.
Atletico and Simeone had already annoyed Guardiola decisively: In 2016 the Spaniards eliminated Bayern Munich, who had been coached by Guardiola, in the semifinals.