Pep says City won’t sit back and defend
MANCHESTER: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola knew their Champions League quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund would be no walk in the park, despite the recent form of both clubs, so he was pleased to come out of Tuesday’s first leg with a 2-1 advantage.
City went ahead in the first half through Kevin De Bruyne before Marco Reus scored an 84th minute equaliser, but Phil Foden grabbed a last-minute winner to tip the balance in favour of the Premier League leaders.
Much of the focus before the game was on Dortmund’s prolific 20-yearold Norwegian forward Erling Braut Haaland and while he was relatively quiet he did force a fine save out of City goalkeeper Ederson before creating Dortmund’s equaliser.
Guardiola’s side lacked their usual sharpness in the final third but the Spaniard said his team had to deal with a huge burden of expectation thanks to their red-hot form coming into the match and Dortmund’s struggles in the Bundesliga.
“When you win 26 games in 27 and they are not winning the Bundesliga, the pressure is on our shoulders,” he said.
“Everything is guaranteed for us. Everybody believed we would win. We had an incredible commitment and desire to go through.”
Dortmund, who host the return leg next Wednesday, have seen their title hopes vanish and now look unlikely to grab a place in the top four, while City are looking to complete a quadruple.
Guardiola said he would look to make some adjustments for the return leg but stressed they would not be going to Germany to sit back and defend.
“I asked the players to win the game. We did it and now we go to Dortmund not to defend,” he said.
“We’ll adjust our pressing, adjust our buildup and play 90 minutes to try and reach the semi-final.”
Guardiola hailed the performance of 20-year-old Foden, who looked a real danger towards the end of the contest.
“Phil was brilliant in his aggression in the last 30 minutes, he was our threat,” Guardiola said.
“Second half, he played really well, and one against one arriving in the final third, he had two, three chances to score and finally did.”
The Germans, meanwhile, are confident of their chances in the return leg.
“Pep had some nice words for me at full-time, but we’re not done yet. We’ll see each other again in eight days’ time,” said Dortmund interim coach Edin Terzic.
“It’s half-time and the tie is still open.
“We’ll be ready to give it our all to overturn the result and reach the next round. We kept their chances to a minimum and posed a threat ourselves going forward. It was evenly matched so we’re disappointed with the result in the end.”
DE BRUYNE SIGNS NEW DEAL
Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has signed a contract extension that will keep him at the Etihad Stadium until 2025, the Premier League leaders said yesterday.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Belgian De Bruyne, who joined City in 2015, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Manchester City posted net losses of £126 million for the 2019-20 season after their finances took a huge hit from the Covid-19 pandemic, the club said.
Revenue dropped 11 percent to £478.4 million during the 2019-20 campaign, which was halted in March and resumed behind closed doors three months later.
The losses were a result of a decline in matchday and broadcasting revenues, while the late finish to last season meant revenue from almost a quarter of Premier League matches and the latter stages of the Champions League and FA Cup would be deferred to next year’s accounts.