A well-placed defense, an effective attack, these are the main ingredients that allowed Manchester City to strike a blow on Tuesday, April 11, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Faced with Bayern Munich, easy winners of Paris Saint-Germain in the previous round, the English club prevailed 3-0 to put a foot in the last four of the competition, as did the Italians of Inter, who beat Benfica at home 2-0.
In pouring rain throughout the match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, the Citizens put on a show against the Bavarians, who cracked in the second half of the match. Already during the first period, a magnificent shot rolled into the top corner of Rodri, right-handed, but who whipped the ball with his left foot, made Bayern bend (1-0, 27th).
Inside as soon as the locker room returned, Bayern’s French international defender Dayot Upamecano was behind City’s second goal. Coming to put pressure on the defender, Jack Grealish recovered the ball, relied on Erling Haaland, who delivered a left-footed cross to Bernardo Silva, taking a header (2-0, 70th).
“We are at the highest level of world football, we don’t blame him, we’re not mad at him, but it’s a mistake that should never happen at this level and in this part of the field, he will learn through it,” Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said of Upamecano after the game.
Haaland passer and scorer
Decisive passer, Haaland became a scorer a few minutes later, with a cross volley with the right foot (3-0, 77th). The Norwegian hovers at the top of the scoring charts in the competition with this 11th goal.
Bayern can thank their goalkeeper, Yann Sommer, who avoided the total sinking of his team. Even if he was not imperial the whole match, the goalkeeper made several valuable saves, including a magnificent flight from a header by Rodri.
In addition to several strikes from Leroy Sané and a good start to the second half, the Munich residents have had few chances and will have a lot to do next Wednesday to hope for qualification, even if their speech is resolutely optimistic.
“We showed today that it’s possible to compete, it may sound weird after a 3-0, but it’s still possible to win,” encouraged Bavarian captain Joshua Kimmich.
“For 55, 60 minutes it was a very tight game, and at times they were better than us,” said City manager Pep Guardiola. “Emotionally I’m destroyed, I turned ten today. We will go [to Munich] to score a goal and win the game, not to defend our lead,” added the Spanish technician.
Inter in control
In the other meeting on Tuesday evening, Inter, who have not reached the semi-finals since 2010, the year of their last victory in C1, also took a serious option for the semi-finals, winning with great skill at Benfica.
After the first ten minutes where the Italians hampered the Lisbon team with high and aggressive pressing, the Eagles took control of the match, but without finding the fault in the very compact defense of the Nerazzurri and their last rampart, at the image of Rafa Silva’s shot in the middle of the box on goalkeeper André Onana (16th).
Returning from the locker room, Benfica once again set a steady pace, but in full swing, Roger Schmidt’s men were surprised as soon as Inter managed to get out. On the left side, Alessandro Bastoni sent a long cross to the far post where Nicolo Barella, free of any marking, had plenty of time to resume with an unstoppable uncrossed header (0-1, 51st).
“I’m happy with the first half because playing here against such a strong team is difficult, but it’s clear that our first goal gave us a lot of courage,” said the Inter coach, Simone Inzaghi.
Disputed penalty
Benfica tried to react, but neither Gonçalo Ramos nor Fredrik Aursnes managed to regain the ball after a mess in the middle of the area (56th). Then Inter missed the goal of the break when Henrikh Mkhitaryan lost his duel against Vlachodimos (66th). In turn, the Eagles again harvested on a strike from Grimaldo once again next door (73rd).
Having become more incisive in the last quarter of an hour, the Italians benefited from a disputed penalty after recourse to the VAR. On a cross from Denzel Dumfries, Joao Mario stretched out his arms to protect his face, but the match referee, Englishman Michael Oliver, designated the penalty spot. Romelu Lukaku transformed the offering with his left foot, while Vlachodimos started on the right side (0-2, 82nd). The Portuguese tried to close the gap, but Gonçalo Ramos came up against André Onana who made a good save (90th 4).
In a week in Italy, the task looks very complicated for Benfica. “In this competition, we play against very good teams all the time, and these teams are very effective and manage to win this kind of game,” admitted Roger Schmidt, who knows, perhaps, that the Eagles don’t have never beat Inter Milan in the European Cup.