Manchester City cruise towards Champions League quarter-finals
Published on: Thursday, February 15, 2024
By: AFP
Foden (left) scores past Copenhagen’s goalkeeper Kamil Grabara.
COPENHAGEN: Pep Guardiola hailed Kevin De Bruyne’s form “extraordinary” after the Belgian was involved in all three goals as Manchester City beat FC Copenhagen 3-1 on Tuesday to close in on the Champions League quarter-finals.De Bruyne’s early opener was cancelled out against the run of play by Magnus Mattsson.
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Bernardo Silva restored City’s lead before half-time, but they had to wait until stoppage time to add further punishment for the hosts when Phil Foden turned home De Bruyne’s cut-back.
De Bruyne was sidelined for five months by a hamstring tear suffered on the opening night of the Premier League season in August.
But since his return last month, the 32-year-old has scored two goals and provided seven assists in seven appearances.
“Extraordinary,” said Guardiola of De Bruyne’s statistics. “The biggest players love to appear in the biggest stages.
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“It’s the hour of truth when you are in the last 16 of the Champions League and we start well.”
The English champions have now won 11 consecutive games in all competitions as they remain on course to repeat last season’s treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
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Copenhagen had not played a competitive game for two months since sealing their place in the last 16 by dumping out Manchester United and Galatasaray in the group stages.
“They had a great group stage so we had to respect them,” said De Bruyne. “We started really well but I think we made one mistake and they pounced on it.
“We played a really good game. In the second half we created a lot of chances, could have scored more and luckily in the end we scored the third one, so it is a little bit of an advantage now.”
Meanwhile, an incredible solo goal from Brahim Diaz secured Real Madrid a 1-0 win away at RB Leipzig in Tuesday’s Champions League last 16 first leg.
Leipzig were energetic but wasteful early, while Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin made numerous saves after the hosts controversially had a goal disallowed for offside.
The German club were made to pay early in the second half when Diaz opened the scoring.
Drafted into the side in place of the injured Jude Bellingham, Diaz danced past three Leipzig defenders before curling an inch-perfect shot inside the far post.
“I’m intuitive,” said Diaz of the goal. “I saw Vini (Vinicius Junior) and wanted to give it to him, but in the end I took the shot.
“It was a nice goal.”
Real midfielder Toni Kroos praised his teammate, telling Amazon Prime “a piece of individual skill decided the game.
“If we’re honest, it could have gone in either direction.”
The win was Real Madrid’s seventh in seven games this Champions League campaign and puts them in prime position to make it past the last 16 for the fourth straight season.
“It was an open match,” said Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, contending that “a lucky punch decided the game”.
Madrid travelled to Saxony without England midfielder Bellingham, who injured his ankle in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Girona.
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