MANCHESTER CITY have charged into the Champions League quarter-finals after a 6-2 aggregate win over Copenhagen.
Manual Akanji, Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland did the damage as City recorded a 3-1 win in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium.
Haaland’s strike was his 41st Champions League goal in just 37 appearances in the competition.
- Man City XI: Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Ruben, Gvardiol; Rodri, Kovacic; Nunes, Alvarez, Bobb; Haaland.
- Copenhagen XI: Grabara; Jelert, Vavro, McKenna; Ankersen, Froholdt, Óskarsson, Clem, Diks; Achouri, Elyounousssi
That’s all!
A reminder, our full match report from this evening’s game is now live and at the bottom of this post.
A comfortable night for City who will have tougher tasks in the next couple of weeks.
But it’s about getting the job done and they’re ticking along nicely in their Double Treble pursuit.
Goodnight!
When is the draw?
For City fans, they’ll have some time to wait before finding out their quarter final opponents.
With the remainder of the ties to be played next week, the draw won’t be until those games have been played.
It’ll take place on Friday, March 15.
Into the hat
It’s shaping up to be a splendid end to the Champions League this season.
Four elite sides have booked their place in the draw and there’s some big teams still to play, too.
Here’s how it’s shaping up:
- Man City
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Bayern Munich
- Real Madrid
- Arsenal/Porto
- Napoli/Barcelona
- Inter Milan/Real Sociedad
- PSV Eindhoven/Borussia Dortmund
Coincidence?
Here’s a weird one.
Those three goals City scored tonight mean that they’ve now scored EXACTLY three goals in all eight Champions League games so far.
Yep, 24 goals scored and all evenly spread out, in home games and away games up until this point.
Very cool.
Joining the top
Erling Haaland now joins Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe atop the Champions League goal standings this season.
The other two remain in the competition too so this is another dimension to the remainder of the tournament.
Pep’s delight
Pep Guardiola reckons the belief and time to build the process is paying off for his Manchester City stars.
He told TNT Sports: “We’re into the next round. Still we are there in this competition. It was difficult to attack them (FC Copenhagen) because they are well organised playing four or five at the back.
“We are well respected for our openness. Before I arrived we didn’t believe we could do it. It’s a question of time, a process. They gave me time, gave us time.
“We are a team that believes we can do it. We’re competing with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, we don’t know who we are going to face. It’s a question of wait and see. The important thing is seven years in a row we are there.”
Speaking of Euro stats
And Erling Haaland has now hit the same number of Champions League goals for Man City as Sergio Aguero managed.
That seems an incredible stat, given just how prolific Aguero seemed during his time in the North West.
And when you hear Haaland did it in 42 games fewer, you realise what a serious goal scorer they have on their hands.
Euro dominance
A stat from OptaJoe here, with Manchester City now 30 games unbeaten at home in this competition (W28, D2).
They’re only the second side to complete that incredible feat, following Barcelona, who reached 38 games between September 2013 and November 2020.
Match report
Manchester City may have got a helping hand from the man in the mask.
But there was no disguising their superiority as they swept to a 10th straight win in the Champions League.
Former Liverpool keeper Kamil Grabara was left red faced as he fumbled a cross shot from Julian Alvarez into his net early on.
Yet luckily for the Pole his face was covered up – so his blushes were spared.
What would Pep Guardiola give for a clanger like that from one of the current Reds squad in Sunday’s title showdown at Anfield?
Great run
City now head into a crunch game with Liverpool on the back of a 20-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
MOTM speaks
Player of the Match, Manuel Akanji told TNT Sports that City have to prove to everyone why they’re favourites for the competition.
Speaking on his award tonight, he said: “I never thought I’d get something like this, my son’s will love it!
“I saw the ball dropping perfect for my foot and I just tried to hit it. I was really happy with it.
“We knew if we could score the first goal and double it up with the second it would be hard for them. We did what we had to do.
“We’ll see how the draw pans out but we’re amongst the favourites but have to show it.”
The numbers on the night
The stats behind the 90 minutes, which show Copenhagen gave as good as they got when it came to efforts on goal.
Possession wise they were some way behind and didn’t even have half as many passes as City.
Some positives to take nonetheless, with City scoring with every shot on target they managed.
City cruise
A routine win for City who had the tie wrapped up in the opening half hour.
Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez with goals inside 10 minutes before Mo Elyounoussi got one back on the half hour.
Erling Haaland scored on the stroke of half time and that was the end of the scoring.
Some rest for his key men, too. A great night for Pep.
FULL TIME!
The European champions are into the quarter finals of the Champions League.
Another 3-1 win over Copenhagen on the night, 6-2 on aggregate!
Man City 3-1 Copenhagen (agg: 6-2)
CLOSE!
90+2. Rico Lewis nearly makes it four in the dying stages, collecting a great pass from Wright before hitting the crossbar as he bears down on goal.
FULL TIME!
A couple of late scares for Real Madrid but they see out the result tonight and they’re into the hat for the quarters!
Leipzig put up some fight in the end but the 1-1 draw enough for Ancelotti’s men to progress.
Man City 3-1 Copenhagen (agg: 6-2)
Three minutes added.
Man City 3-1 Copenhagen (agg: 6-2)
89. Mattsson booked for a foul on Lewis.
Man City 3-1 Copenhagen (agg: 6-2)
87. A memorable moment for a young Manchester boy as Jacob Wright comes on for City.
A proud moment for him as he replaces Erling Haaland with a few minutes left.
He’d have been on earlier but City had another spell of possession for several minutes which resulted in him hanging about on the touchline.
- OFF: Erling Haaland
- ON: Jacob Wright
Real Madrid 1-1 Leipzig (agg: 2-1)
Four minutes added in Spain!
Man City 3-1 Copenhagen (agg: 6-2)
84. Mattsson is almost in again but his shot is blocked high in the air.
Cornelius tries to swing a high boot at it but Akanji beats him to it and the defender takes a sore one in the process.
Cornelius is shown a yellow card.
Man City 3-1 Copenhagen (agg: 6-2)
82. Superb defending from Akanji.
Elyounoussi looks to have gotten clear inside the area and through on goal but the defender shows great pace and strength to step back in and nudge off him the ball and allow Ederson to collect.
Real Madrid 1-1 Leipzig (agg: 2-1)
82. Into the final 10 minutes in Madrid as Leipzig push forward for an equaliser.
Each side has picked up three yellow cards on the night, highlighting how fiercely competitive it has been.
Man City 3-1 Copenhagen (agg: 6-2)
78. Another corner for Copenhagen as Mattsson’s effort from distance deflects wide.
The ball in is dealt with by City but it falls to Elyounoussi on the edge of the box who blazes well over.
Man City 3-1 Copenhagen (agg: 6-2)
76. And they almost have another goal to celebrate!
The deep corner finds Elyounoussi who nods it back across goal, where McKenna helps it on towards Diks but he doesn’t know much about it and Ederson rushes off his line to gather.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
