First ultra-dominant in the first period then dominated and under pressure, Manchester City conceded the draw (1-1), Wednesday, February 22, in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League in Leipzig. To see the quarter-finals, Pep Guardiola’s men, deprived of Kevin De Bruyne in Germany, will have to win in three weeks on their lawn at the Etihad Stadium.
Ilkay Gündogan’s teammates played two completely different spells at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig in eastern Germany. For the first forty-five minutes, they completely confiscated the ball, with at times up to more than 80% possession. Leipzig coach Marco Rose had decided to let the Citizens play the game, with a single shot on target for the Red Bulls in added time, without much danger for the English club’s goalkeeper, Ederson.
But this dominance in the possession of Manchester City only resulted in a goal from Riyad Mahrez, the man in form of the Mancunians since January. On a passing error from Xaver Schlager for Konrad Laimer, the Citizens recovered the ball by Jack Grealish. Mahrez took advantage of Ilkay Gündogan’s slight deflection to give Janis Blaswich no chance shortly before the half-hour mark (27′). Mahrez is on his seventh goal in 2023 with City (four in the Premier League, two in the Cup and one in the Champions League), for three assists.
The Sky Blues, however, did not accelerate enough when Leipzig was cornered in its camp, and paid for this lack of desire in the second half. Lipsian defender Benjamin Henrichs then estimated, at the microphone of DAZN, that the worst had been avoided, despite the delay on the scoreboard: “In the first period, we were happy to be only 1-0 down. On the contrary in the second half, we even had the impression that we could have obtained something better than the draw. We were braver than them after the break. »
A second period to the advantage of Leipzig
Leipzig returned to the pitch for the second half showing a completely different face, much more offensive and much more pressing, like Henrichs, whose shot in the 55th minute did not find the target. Coach Marco Rose was satisfied: “In the second half we played at Champions League level, on an equal footing with Manchester City and that’s what we wanted. »
Under pressure, Manchester City could not find the solution and the chances multiplied for Leipzig, while the entry into play of Christopher Nkunku in the 63rd minute of play gave Leipzig an additional offensive weapon. On the left side of the German attack, in the same minute, the Portuguese André Silva dribbled past several players but his shot was stopped by Ederson.
The City goalkeeper was put to use again with a 69th-minute strike from Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai, deflected from the fingertips. On the following corner, the Brazilian is not free from reproach, completely missing his exit. Croatian revelation of the 2022 World Cup, Leipzig central defender Josko Gvardiol took the best of the City defense to equalize (1-1, 70th). The entry into play of Christopher Nkunku in the 63rd minute of play gave Leipzig an additional offensive weapon. Despite opportunities on both sides, the score did not move in the last twenty minutes.
Lukaku “glad to have helped”, Onana savior
In the other game of the evening, Romelu Lukaku released Inter Milan from the trap set by Sergio Conceiçao’s FC Porto, knocking out the Dragons (1-0) at the end of the match. “Romelu, Romelu!” “, were able to sing the tifosi nerazzurri, relieved, when the Belgian, who entered at the start of the second period, released San Siro by scoring in two stages. He took over a ball first returned by the post on a first header, on a cross from Nicolo Barella (86th).
The Nerazzurri will thank “Big Rom” for forcing the Portuguese lock, which only yielded when the Dragons found themselves at ten after the exclusion of Otavio (78) for a second warning. For Romelu Lukaku, it “was too important to win. We wanted to score another goal, but we didn’t succeed.” Asked if this victory also freed him personally, after a difficult World Cup, the striker replied: “I’m not an individualist , I only think of Inter Milan, I’m happy to have helped the team. Internazionale will also not forget the performance of its goalkeeper, André Onana, author of several decisive saves, including a masterful double save at the start of the second half.
If the Portuguese, beaten for the first time in four months after twenty-two games without a loss (in all competitions), remain in the race, Simone Inzaghi, the coach of Inter, pulled off a nice coup by putting down a team that , since the arrival of Conceiçao on the bench in 2017, has regularly taken over the Italian clubs. As expected, the two ex-Lazio Rome team-mates played an Italian match, with maximum attention paid to tactics and calculated risk-taking.
