Tag: manchester city

Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan struck early as Manchester City eased into the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday.

The pair netted in the opening 18 minutes of the second leg of the last-16 tie in Budapest, securing a 2-0 victory and wrapping up a comfortable 4-0 aggregate success for Pep Guardiola’s quadruple-chasing side.

De Bruyne set City on their way at the Puskas Arena with a stunning long-range strike after 12 minutes before Gundogan tucked away his 15th goal of the season after a fine run by Phil Foden.

The result kept City’s bid for four trophies firmly on track, although tougher tests will lie ahead in Europe as they return to the quarter-final stage that has proved their undoing in the past three seasons.

The Premier League leaders were dominant in the first leg at the same venue and it was clear from early on a similar story would play out second time around. The Bundesliga side had lost their previous six games – all since it was announced coach Marco Rose would be leaving for rivals Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season – and they never looked like reversing that trend.

Guardiola switched tactics from the weekend win at Fulham, dropping strikers Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero to the bench and reverting to a false nine. De Bruyne chiefly played that central role, although he interchanged with others, and the plan worked superbly.

City controlled the game in almost all aspects from the outset and had their first serious chance after seven minutes when Joao Cancelo clipped a clever ball into the box for Foden.

On this occasion the England youngster was unable to make clean contact with his volley and Yann Sommer pushed away, but the Swiss keeper could do little about De Bruyne’s ferocious strike six minutes later.

The Belgian fired into the roof of the net with his weaker left foot after collecting a pass from Riyad Mahrez 20 yards out.

Gundogan doubled the lead six minutes later after a brilliant run by Foden, who turned inside his own half and broke away to play in the German with a no-look pass. Gundogan made no mistake as he bore down on Sommer, placing the ball into the bottom corner before hurdling the keeper.

To their credit, despite being outclassed, Monchengladbach tried to play positively. Lars Stindl and Marcus Thuram both managed to force saves from Ederson while Breel Embolo shot across the face of goal after a good move.

But City threatened more, with Mahrez picking out Gundogan in the area only for Sommer to clear and De Bruyne testing the keeper from a free-kick. Mahrez shot narrowly wide early in the second half.

Mahrez twice threatened again but was denied both times by Sommer and Foden had an effort blocked.

City got some minutes out of Aguero and Raheem Sterling in the closing stages and Mahrez had further opportunities when he shot over and then wide late on.

Manchester City moved to the verge of the Champions League quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Wednesday but coach Pep Guardiola insisted his team still need to “be more clinical up front”. A first half header from Bernardo Silva and a Gabriel Jesus strike in the second period of the last 16 first leg tie extended a winning streak by Guardiola’s high-flying side to 19 games in all competitions. Premier League leaders City camped inside the Gladbach half for most of the game, which was moved to Hungary due to Germany’s Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Although dominant, City took time to break down a stubborn German defence, often foiled by the interceptions of Algeria left-back Ramy Bensebaini.

While Guardiola said afterwards he was “pleased” with the result, he added City “have to improve” to challenge for Champions League honours.

“We controlled the game. Unfortunately we were not clinical up front, it is something we have to improve in this competition, we were not good enough in the box, we didn’t dribble and shoot enough,” said Guardiola.

“In this competition you have to be perfect to be sure you can go through,” he said.

Debutants in the Champions League knockout stages, Gladbach had been urged by coach Marco Rose to be brave against Guardiola’s side.

France’s Alassane Plea was almost through on goal on 20 minutes after a rare counterattack, but a nervy and deep-lying Gladbach eventually succumbed to mounting pressure in the 29th minute.

A sublime inch-perfect cross by Portuguese defender Joao Cancelo curled over the defence from the left to reach his compatriot Silva who flicked his close-range header past Yann Sommer.

“We tried to play simple and not make mistakes. It’s a good win for us, but it’s not over yet,” Silva told news men.

“Every time when he plays (Silva) is an exceptional player, he’s really good in the air, the goal was fantastic how he finished it,” said Guardiola.

The 26-year-old Cancelo, impressive throughout, nearly doubled the lead five minutes from the break but his shot from just outside the box pinged over the bar.

Then early in the second half Jesus should have converted after latching on to a poorly judged backpass by Bensebaini but saw his shot blocked by Swiss defender Nico Elvedi.

Apart from a lunging backheel from Plea that flashed just wide of Ederson’s far post on the hour mark, City comfortably contained the Germans, and went two up in the 65th minute.

Another majestic cross-field pass by Cancelo again found Silva at Sommer’s far post who this time headed back across the goalmouth for Jesus to fire home and seal City’s 19th successive victory and sixth Champions League clean sheet in a row.

Gladbach, who managed just one shot on target throughout the game, an effort by substitute Hannes Wolf saved by Ederson in the last moments, now face a formidable task to turn around the tie in the return leg scheduled for March 16 in Manchester.

We deservedly lost today against a very strong team, you don’t get many chances against such an opponent, we simply couldn’t attack more,” said Rose

“It would have been good to score at the end to be in a better position.”