Manchester City 2-0 (4-0 on agg.) Borussia Monchengladbach
Manchester City strolled into the Champions League quarter-finals with something to spare after putting on a first-half show against Borussia Monchengladbach at the Puskas Arena.
The Foals came into the game on a six-match losing streak and they were staring down the barrel in this match when Kevin de Bruyne hit a thunderbolt home with just 12 minutes on the clock.
Ilkay Gundogan added a second before the break and, despite coming close to adding a third, Pep Guardiola’s all-stars were happy to settle for a 4-0 aggregate victory.
Highlights of the game
Borussia keeper Yann Sommer must have suspected he was in for a difficult night in Budapest but he was up to the task with just seven minutes gone, when Joao Cancelo lobbed a great ball over to Phil Foden and he stopped the young England star’s flick.
And then his opposite number, Ederson, made a fingertip save to keep out an effort from Lars Stindl after Breel Embolo had put the skipper through on goal.
But then City’s captain, De Bruyne, showed Stindl and everyone else for that matter, how to do it with a spectacular goal. Riyad Mahrez did well to evade two Borussia defenders before sliding the ball sideways to De Bruyne who took a touch and then smashed the ball into the net off the underside of the bar.
Sommer had no time to react and he’ll need to watch the Champions League 2021 highlights to see exactly where the ball went!
Any thoughts of a Monchengladbach comeback were totally extinguished on 18 minutes when City doubled their second-leg lead. This time, Foden found Gundogan with a lovely diagonal ball and the in-form midfielder curled the ball past Sommer to make it two. That made it 15 goals for the season for Gundogan, who is the highest scoring German across Europe’s top four leagues, in all competitions.
City coasted their way to half-time and should have extended their lead at the start of the second half when Gundogan put through Mahrez, but the Algerian dragged his shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
The Sky Blues seemed happy to pass the ball around and protect their position while Gladbach were happy to have stemmed the flow of goals. But the third very nearly came midway through the half, when Sommer did well to save a shot from Mahrez and then deny Foden when the ball was recycled into the danger area.
The Foals finally had a flurry of activity in the closing minutes with Hannes Wolf firing over, and then Ibrahima Traore shooting wide after good work from Alassane Plea.
There was still time for Mahrez to miss a couple more chances, but the game had long gone and the Sky Blues were in the distance.
Key statistics
At SBOTOP odds as low as 1.22 to win, Pep Guardiola’s were nailed on for this game, particularly when they went two goals up within 20 minutes.
With just a defeat to Manchester United interrupting City’s phenomenal run, this victory made it 24 wins in 25 games in all competitions.
Kevin De Bruyne’s thunderbolt was Manchester City’s 100th goal of the season in all competitions to make it the eighth consecutive season the Sky Blues have reached three figures.
City enjoy playing against anyone but they particularly like meeting the Foals. They have now won five of their six meetings with Monchengladbach, drawing the other one and scoring two or more goals in each of their victories.
What’s next?
As standout favourites to win the European flagship trophy, according to the latest Champions League 2021 betting odds, Manchester City will now await the draw for the quarter-finals due to be made on Friday, 19th March.
Then, the Sky Blues’ hunt for silverware continues back in England in the FA Cup, when they head to Merseyside to take on Everton in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Toffees have been in wretched form at home — defeat to Burnley last weekend was Everton’s third in the last four games at Goodison Park — but they have plenty of quality and the Sky Blues will not take them lightly.
Meanwhile, Marco Rose takes his beleaguered Gladbach side to face bottom club FC Schalke. Anything other than a victory there will spell disaster as Die Fohlen try to improve on their tenth position in the Bundesliga.
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