Fabulous Foden seals the deal as City hit their peak
Foden’s late strike puts City on brink of quarter-finals
IF THERE was ever going to be mismatch at this stage of the Champions League then it was likely to be one featuring the holders and best team in the world against a team from Scandinavia that hadn’t played a competitive game for 63 days.
While Manchester City have recently been running in to typically assertive late-winter form, Copenhagen have been hibernating, cocooned on their winter break.
So, all things considered, this was a result that even the most tentative tipster could have seen coming from a distance down the road.
Copenhagen almost got to the finishing line with some lingering hope in their hearts. At 2-1 down in added time, they could have travelled to Manchester next month with the feeling they were still in the tie.
But no longer. Phil Foden was City’s best player and the goal he scored right at the death is the one that will see Pep Guardiola able to approach the second leg with at least half an eye on the two Premier League games that sit either side it.
City host Manchester United immediately before Copenhagen’s visit on March 6 and then travel to Liverpool four days later. So if the team Guardiola picked here looked like one selected to win a tie in just one game then maybe it was. This was pretty much peak City.
When Kevin De Bruyne put them ahead in the 10th minute, a runaway victory seemed very possible. City were superb early on.
But with Bernardo Silva forced to repair the damage of an equaliser gifted in part to Magnus Mattsson by City goalkeeper Ederson in the 34th minute, last season’s treble winners never quite recovered their early menace and nobody typified that difficulty more than Erling Haaland who reached the death throes of the game having touched the ball only 14 times.
Twice in stoppage time, though, City’s master goal scorer appeared on the scene to work Copenhagen goalkeeper Grabara. And as City suddenly upped their intensity levels, Foden arrived in the penalty box to score another big goal to give Guardiola the breathing space he desired. City bristled with intent in the early stages. It was a freezing cold night in Denmark but City’s football ran hot in the opening half-hour and Copenhagen struggled to cope. The holders were too quick, too sharp and too precise.
As a result they were ahead within 10 minutes.
De Bruyne had already headed one chance wide of the post in the fourth minute and Ruben Dias had seen a close range effort saved with Nathan Ake shovelling the rebound over the top. But when the goal came it was beautifully created and scored.
Foden, in a good run of form at the moment, was playing out on the right side but his runs infield were troubling Copenhagen. And when he spotted De Bruyne running off his shoulder through the inside-right channel, his reverse pass funnelled the ball in to his team-mate’s path and the low right-foot shot found the far corner with precision.
Goalkeeper Kamil Grabara may have been slightly too close to his near post as De Bruyne took aim but that took nothing away from the accuracy of the shot. De Bruyne had about a square foot to aim at and didn’t miss.
So early in the game yet Copenhagen were drowning. Their supporters were super, relishing the return of competitive action to this stadium and urging their team on. It was all very one-sided, though, and the only thing that interrupted City’s flow was an injury to Jack Grealish.
The England midfielder was one of the stars of City’s show last season but has struggled this term. He looked distraught as he went down with what looked like a pulled calf muscle. Jeremy Doku was his replacement.
Initially this change did little to disrupt City’s rhythm. Silva saw a cross fumbled on to his own bar by goalkeeper Grabara and then Erling Haaland thumped a scissor kick over after Doku stood up a cross from the byline. With 10 minutes or so left before half-time, Copenhagen were just trying to stay in the game.
Imagine the euphoria, then, when they scored out of nothing. City goalkeeper Ederson played a clearance straight to Mohamed Elyounoussi and when his shot came back off a defender, Mattsson thrashed in the equaliser from 18 yards.
It was a wonderful moment for the home team and five minutes later they almost scored again. Right back Elias Jelert found Mattsson with a neat cross-field pass and the goalscorer took a touch before shooting over when he would have expected to do better.
City were not exactly wobbling but they did look as surprised as the rest of us. Fortunately Guardiola’s team were presented
MANCHESTER CITY put one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals as their quality proved too much for Copenhagen last night.
Kevin De Bruyne fired City ahead in the last-16 first leg after 10 minutes as the visitors looked set to run riot in Denmark. But Magnus Mattsson capitalised on an error by City goalkeeper Ederson to equalise against the run of play.
Bernardo Silva prodded City into the lead again on the stroke of half-time, and Phil Foden added a third for the visitors in second-half stoppage time to put City in a commanding position in the tie.
The only disappointment for Pep Guardiola will have been an injury to Jack Grealish, who limped off after 20 minutes on his first start in five weeks.