Ice and easy does it for chilled City DRESSING ROOM AHEAD OF DORTMUND CLASH TOMORROW
MANCHESTER City are calm ahead of their Champions League quarterfinal second leg at Borussia Dortmund, despite knowing they should be taking a healthier lead to Germany.
City took the lead in the first leg, but couldn’t double it despite a number of second-half chances and were made to pay when Marco Reus scored a crucial away goal to keep Dortmund alive in the tie.
Phil Foden’s late winner means City have the advantage tomorrow for the second leg, but that Reus strike gives Dortmund something to cling to.
Speaking about the reaction to the 2-1 first leg result, winger Raheem Sterling said City know they could have established a more commanding lead in the tie.
“After the game as normal, for me personally I feel that was a game that should have been won 3-0,” he told BT Sport.
“We had the chances to finish that game off. Now going away is going to be a difficult one. On a day to day basis that game is done and it is straight onto the Leeds game. That is what is so good about the squad, as soon as one game is done you’re onto the next one.”
If City do progress, it would be the first time they have reached the semi-final stage under Pep Guardiola, and they have been guilty of under-par performances at the quarter-final stages in previous seasons.
But Sterling says City aren’t feeling the pressure from improving that record, and he has even noticed a far more relaxed and professional attitude among the squad. He added: “Not necessarily feeling the pressure because if you come into our changing room you wouldn’t even notice there was a game going on with how chilled the guys are. But in the last couple of years we’ve been at this stage and know we should have won in the last couple of seasons, so it is more trying to overcome this stage and I feel like we’ll be flying.
“The manager tried to stress just to play our football [in the second leg]. If we do that without overthinking or doing too much, we’ll win the second leg.”
● Dortmund v Man City is live on BT Sport 3 from 7.15pm on Wednesday.
If we play our football without overthinking or doing too much, we’ll win the second leg Raheem Sterling
RAHEEM SAYS NO PRESSURE IN