Citizens repeat their result from Copenhagen and celebrate their promotion. In Manchester, the only goals were scored in the first half

Manchester City took a comfortable lead into the return leg of the Champions League semi-final in Copenhagen with a 3-1 win. They didn’t allow any drama on their home ground on Wednesday night and won by the same score. In addition to an assist, Julián Álvarez scored a goal thanks to a goalkeeper’s miss. While Manuel Akanji and Erling Haaland also scored. Mohamed Elyounoussi scored the only goal for Denmark.

Citizens won 3-1 again

In addition to the two-goal deficit, the Danish team was also plagued by a large number of substitutes before the start of the return leg. While only Jack Grealish was missing on the Manchester side, the Copenhagen side had Viktor Claesson, Rasmus Falk and Diogo Gonçalves among others injured.

Wednesday’s game could not have started better for the defending champions. Already in the fifth minute, Álvarez’s corner kick was headed into the net by Manuel Akanji, who increased the difference in the score between the teams by one more shot.

Four minutes passed and the Citizens were already leading 2-0. Julián Álvarez again centred from the corner of the box and this time the ball came back to him shortly after Rodri’s header hit the crossbar. The Argentine world champion then sent in a fierce shot from an angle that went over the gloves of goalkeeper Kamil Grabar, who was wearing a protective mask, and into the net.

Pep Guardiola’s men were calmly controlling the game with the game virtually decided. The opponents, led by coach Jacob Neestrup, were not letting the opponents do anything thanks to their patient possession of the ball. At the same time, however, the match lacked the necessary pace because of this.

The reduction to 2-1 in the 29th minute was all the more surprising. The visitors ended their sporadic attack with a simple combination and a precise shot by Mohamed Elyounoussi. Goalkeeper Ederson cashed in on his rival’s first ever attempt between the three posts.

When it seemed that the rest of the half would not bring any more goals, the biggest canon made his presence felt. Erling Haaland received a pass from Rodri in the setup, worked the ball in the hexagon and finished with a cross to make it 3:1.

Manchester City advances to the quarterfinals

At the break, there was one change in the line-up of the English club. It was Rodri who gave his place on the pitch to Sergio Gómez. However, the situation remained unchanged in the second half as the home side kept their guard up.

FC Copenhagen made their first substitution just before the hour mark. In particular, Elias Achouri and Victor Froholdt were replaced by Roony Bardghji and Magnus Mattson.

However, even the other substitutions did not affect the picture of the game. Nevertheless, Ederson had to make a difficult save in the 66th minute. Mattson, the last of the aforementioned substitutes, did not beat the Brazilian on a good opportunity.

About twenty minutes before the end, the Sky Blues suffered the inconvenience of an injury to the left hand of Matheus Nunes, who was replaced by Micah Hamilton. The opponents from the capital of the Kingdom of Denmark made a sympathetic effort to at least mitigate their loss. But they were unable to score. On the other side, Lewis hit the crossbar in injury time.

Manchester City won 6-2 on aggregate and became the fourth quarter-finalist in this year’s Champions League. Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid have already qualified for the next stage of the competition.

Source: UEFA, Nova Sport 4