Manchester City showed his most overwhelming version and defeated with authority the Bayern Munich3-0, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final.
(You may be interested in: The great goals with which Manchester City is beating Bayern Munich, video)
The Spanish midfielder Rodri put the locals ahead with a left-footed shot from outside the area in the first half (27) and the Portuguese Bernardo Silva (70) and the Norwegian Erling Haaland (77) completed a win that could have been even greater, with a
City that was far superior to a Bayern that will have the difficult mission of coming back on Wednesday of next week in Munich.
started even
The match at the Etihad Stadium was billed as a duel between two of the best and most successful managers of the last decade, Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel, and the tacticians did not disappoint. The Spaniard proposed a three-man defensive line (Akanji, Ruben Dias and Aké) that when City did not have the ball it was four with Stones embedded next to the Portuguese central defender, while in attack the Portuguese international helped Rodri in the midfield to supply Gundogan, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Grealish with balls, with Haaland as the most advanced man.
Tuchel, for his part, tried to counteract the crowded English midfield by putting men in the midfield (Kimmich, Goretza, Coman, Sané and Musiala) and leaving another midfielder, Serge Gnabry, as the only striker, since his two pure forwards, Sané and Müller, started on the bench. Both teams fought for possession of the ball in the first minutes and were dangerous when stepping on the rival area, but it was City that opened the scoring with a kick from outside the area by Rodri that slipped through the top corner of the defended goal by Yann Sommer (28).
The goal did not change the approach of either team, but if City can boast of anything this season it is their offensive arsenal and a cross from De Bruyne ended with a shot from Gundogan that Sommer, from the ground and displaying his reflexes, sent a corner with his foot (34).
Rodri’s shoe
Bayern took possession of the ball in the final stretch of the first half, but Akanji and Aké did not allow Coman and Sané to advance on the wings, so he tested it from afar, in a position similar to that of Rodri in the goal , but the left-footed shot brushed the post on the occasion that could have meant the tie at halftime (45+2).
Sané proved it again as soon as he returned from the locker room with three shots in the first eight minutes that brought Ederson into action, unprecedented in the first half. The Brazilian goalkeeper again avoided the tie with a header from De Ligt (55) in a section in which Bayern seemed close to the goal, but the locals also created danger with two shots from Aké (57) and Ruben Dias (58). they met with an inspired Sommer.
In just over ten minutes there were more shots on goal than in the entire first half and Guardiola’s team was not interested in the game becoming a duel between gunmen from the Far West, so the English joined lines and Julián Álvarez entered by a tired De Bruyne to recover the level of pressure. And it was precisely Grealish’s pressure on Upamecano that caused the French defender to make an error when he released the ball and Haaland put a measured cross to the far post that Bernardo Silva headed into the net (70).
City were aware that they could end the tie and Julián Álvarez was close, but Sommer showed a prodigious hand to deflect the Argentine’s placed shot (75). However, the Swiss international could do nothing two minutes later, when Stones headed a cross into the box and Haaland hunted the ball in an acrobatic position to shoot Sommer. It is the eleventh goal for the Norwegian in seven Champions League games this season and leads the table of top scorers.
The punishment could have been worse for Bayern, since City had chances to make the fourth, such as a shot from Julián Álvarez that narrowly missed the mark (83) or a header from Rodri that Sommer took out with the tips of his fingers (87).
AFP
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