It was to be a duel of coaches. A tactical battle between Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel. But it was ultimately the Spaniard who largely took his revenge in this first leg, he who had been deprived of a third Champions League title by Chelsea two years ago, when his German counterpart was still in charge of the Blues.
However, it took an individual feat to allow the Citizens to take the lead on Tuesday evening. An unexpected feat, that of Rodri. With a sublime curling shot from the left foot, from outside the box, the defensive midfielder cleared Yann Sommer’s top corner, to score the first goal of his career in the Champions League (1-0, 27th).
At the Etihad Stadium, the Spain international was one of Skyblues’ more disciplined, more focused symbols than their opponents. In the Mancunian rain, the defense quickly extinguished each of the fuses lit by the Bavarian attackers. First with Nathan Aké, who disgusted Kingsley Coman by repelling his dribbles with authority (22nd), then with Ruben Dias, whose intervention in the middle of the box deprived Jamal Musiala of the opener by countering his shot (26th ). And when the hinge was not there, it was the doorman Ederson who was, impeccable in the face of Munich’s attempts (50th, 53rd).
Already 11 goals for Haaland
The short storm crossed, Pep Guardiola’s men were surgical, taking advantage of the all too obvious breaches left by the Bayern defense. Bernardo Silva came to concretize his splendid performance with a headed goal, taking advantage of a ball from Frenchman Dayot Upamecano (2-0, 70th). The goal of the break, quickly followed by a fatal blow signed Erling Haaland, of course (3-0, 77th). Unstoppable, the Norwegian cyborg had to join the party, and did not miss his chance when scoring his 11th goal of the season in the Champions League, volley.
Enough to give a more than comfortable advantage to Manchester City in this great shock of the quarter-finals, while Inter Milan, at the same time, took the upper hand over Benfica (0-2). For Thomas Tuchel and his family, it will take a real feat to recover from this defeat. See you at the Allianz Arena on April 19.