KEVIN DE BRUYNE finally broke down the red wall of Atletico Madrid to give Manchester City a priceless first leg advantage.
But he owed a huge thank you to super sub Phil Foden who lit up the tie by creating the winner with his first touch of the ball.
Pep Guardiola had joked about ‘overthinking’ his tactics on the eve of this tie as he knows he always gets the blame when his team go out.
But he thought this one out perfectly – picking exactly the right time to introduce Foden who made his crucial contribution just over a minute after coming on.
Such was the dogged defending of Atletico, it was always going to take something special to break them down.
And typically, Foden, who was the hero of the quarter final wins over Borussia Dortmund last season, provided it.
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Guardiola had also said in his pre match press conferences that Diego Simeone’s men are more offensive than people give them credit for.
Pull the other one Pep.
The Spanish side showed almost zero attacking ambition and threatened to squeeze the life out of the game completely – until Foden stepped in.
For the fifth season in a row, City have reached the last eight – but have progressed to the semis only once.
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Guardiola is convinced that their run to the final last season will benefit them in this season’s campaign and beyond.
Yet this was a real test of their European credentials against a manager – Diego Simeone – who Pep described as the ‘master of the knock-out stages’.
Despite his jokes before the game, there was nothing too outlandish in his team selection.
England pair Foden and Grealish dropped to the bench in order to accommodate top scorer Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan.
He also went with Nathan Ake at left-back – as he tried to cope with Kyle Walker’s needless suspension from the group stage.
Yet the first half was all about the visitors defence rather than City’s.
There was an early opening as Renan Lodi failed to clear his lines with his header but Kevin de Bruyne’s shot was blocked by Sime Vrsaljko.
The home side appealed for a penalty when Bernardo Silva went down under a tackle from Koke in the box but after a VAR check there was nothing doing.
A cross from Mahrez could have broken for Gundogan but Jan Oblak was quickly off his line to gather.
The German did manage to get a shot away after some neat build up play but he blazed high over the bar.
Atletico were happy to sit in and defend – and were doing it impressively – but did threaten occasionally on the break.
Joao Felix – who was linked with a move to the Etihad a couple of years ago – got away down the left but was thwarted by his Portugal international team-mate Joao Cancelo.
Generally though it was attack v defence – but the defence was standing firm.
De Bruyne appealed in vain for a penalty when he was sandwiched between two Atletico defenders.
Defender John Stones grew frustrated and wildly shot over the bar and countless crosses went into the waiting arms of Oblak.
Under Guardiola, City had only failed to score once in 28 Champions League home games – yet at half-time they were staring at a second.
That could have changed early in the second half as Gundogan turned onto a cross from De Bruyne but his effort was deflected wide.
Some nice hold up play from Antoine Griezmann saw Marcos Llorente slipped in but his effort was straight into the hands of Ederson.
At the other end City finally produced a shot on target with De Bruyne’s low free-kick but Oblak was able to save and then hook the loose ball away from danger.
Raheem Sterling had gone quiet after a lively start but wasted a presentable opportunity when he pulled a shot wide of the far post from De Bruyne’s pass.
Then Aymeric Laporte landed a header on the roof of the net from a Mahrez corner when he probably should have hit the target.
Slightly surprisingly, given how well his team was defending, Simeone chose to make a triple substitution on the hour.
It was clearly becoming a tactical battle as Guardiola followed suit by doing the same just seven minutes later.
Grealish, Foden and Gabriel Jesus were all thrown on as City desperately tried to get the advantage.
And it worked perfectly as with his first touch, Foden’s eased through the gears before releasing a beautiful through ball.
KdB timed his run perfectly and rolled the ball under Oblak.
That’s six goals and five assists in his last 12 knock-out games in this competition. He really is the man for the big occasion.
Foden was clearly enjoying himself and almost teed up another one for de Bruyne but his low shot was blocked by former City defender Stefan Savic.
Still all to play for in Madrid next Wednesday – but de Bruyne’s goal puts a very different slant on things.
Simeone’s men will have to come out and play.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
