This evening in at Parken Stadium, Manchester City once again shows that they are the real force of not only just in the Premier League, but also across big European competitions as well. Despite the five-month injury layoff, Kevin De Bruyne returns fresher than ever, and scores the opening goal of the night to give his team the momentum that they needed in order to really kick things off. Ederson's terrible mistake gave Magnus Mattsson of Copenhagen the opportunity to level the playing field. However, Bernado Silva did not waste any moment to take over the lead once again at the end of the first half. Phil Foden secured the victory at stoppage time, Manchester City holds all the card for the second leg as they will head back to Etihad Stadium.
Ten minutes into the match, it seems like we were going to have a long night ahead. The brilliant pass from Ruben Dias to Phil Foden suddenly transform the state of the match as the ball penetrate through layers of Copenhagen's players. Decided not to continue sprinting forward, Foden hit the break hard and scanning for his teammates in the middle. Kevin De Bruyne was in the area and slided a fine finish from the right side of the box.
Within the next minutes, Guardiola's XI took the total control of the ball. The home team are completely pinned down as Manchester City continuously passing and pressing. However, an error from Ederson as he 'gave' the ball to Copenhagen. Without hesitation, Mattsson strikes a lightning curl finish from just outside of the box, FC Copenhagen 1-1 Manchester City. Everything went back to the starting line as Mattsson's goal absolutely boosted the team's spirit to fight.
Towards the end of the first half, it was Kevin De Bruyne who has always been a breakthrough when his team needed it. From just the corner edge of the goal keeper's area, a sharp touch that give the ball enough to Bernado Silva, and he scored a similar goal as Kevin, Manchester City led 2-1 as we were heading into the half-time break.
Although of the effort and necessary changes throughout the second half to gain control over City, the Danes seemed to struggle to score. On the 93th minute, men in whites were flinging themselves to deny Erling Haaland and his teammates from extending the lead but De Bruyne put it on a platter for Foden to slot in.
A convincing victory over FC Copenhagen gives Manchester City 11 win streak across all competition, in which nine of them were in the Champions League. Now that Kevin is back, Pep Guardiola's XI is almost undefeated. The manager admitted that "the third goal helped a lot" and hopefully finish the job at home, he also said that Kevin De Bruyne "is extraordinary, the biggest players appear in the biggest stages", and expressed his happiness for the results.
Credits were also given to FC Copenhagen, their fans showed loyalty to the Danish team with the ovation the men in whites deserve. Considering that this was their first competitive match in more than two months, the hosts performed admirably. However, Manchester City's fans applaud their heroes dutifully as well, as the defending champions were excellent throughout, save for one clumsy pass that allowed Copenhagen to score.
They will be facing each other again in three weeks' time. With Manchester City seems undeniably strong, will FC Copenhagen have what it takes to pull off a shocker and advance into the next round?
Yorumlar