The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
De Bruyne rocket helps blast classy City into quarters
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MANCHESTERCITY BORUSSIA M’GLADBACH
Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan struck early as Manchester City eased into the Champions League quarter-finals at the expense of Borussia Monchengladbach last night.
The pair netted in the opening 18 minutes of the second leg of the last-16 tie in Budapest, securing a 2-0 victory and wrapping up a comfortable 4-0 aggregate success for Pep Guardiola’s quadruple-chasing side.
De Bruyne set City on their way at the Puskas Arena with a stunning long-range strike after 12 minutes before Gundogan tucked away his 15th goal of the season after a fine run by Phil Foden.
The result kept City’s bid for four trophies firmly on
track, although tougher tests will lie ahead in Europe as they return to the quarter-final stage that has proved their undoing in the past three seasons.
The Premier League leaders were dominant in the first leg at the same venue and it was clear from early on a similar story would play out second time around. The Bundesliga side had lost their previous six games – all since it was announced coach Marco Rose would be leaving for rivals Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season – and they never looked like reversing that trend.
Guardiola switched tactics from the weekend win at Fulham, dropping strikers Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero to the bench and reverting to a false nine. De Bruyne chiefly played that central role, although he interchanged with others, and the plan worked superbly.
City controlled the game in almost all aspects and had their first serious
chance after seven minutes when Joao Cancelo clipped a clever ball into the box for Foden.
On this occasion the England youngster was unable to make clean contact with his volley and Yann Sommer pushed away, but the Swiss keeper could do little about De Bruyne’s ferocious strike six minutes later.
The Belgian fired into the roof of the net with his weaker left foot after collecting a pass from Riyad Mahrez 20 yards out.
Gundogan doubled the lead six minutes later after a brilliant run by Foden, who turned inside his own half and broke away to play in the German with a nolook pass. Gundogan made no mistake as he bore down on Sommer, placing the ball into the bottom corner.
To their credit, despite being outclassed, Monchengladbach tried to play positively. Lars Stindl and Marcus Thuram both managed to force saves from Ederson while Breel
Embolo shot face of goal.
But City threatened more, with Mahrez picking out Gundogan in the area only for Sommer to clear and De Bruyne testing the keeper from a free-kick.
City got some minutes out of Aguero and Raheem Sterling in the closing stages and Mahrez had further opportunities when he shot over and then wide late on.
● Real Madrid secured their place in the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win over Atalanta.
The LaLiga side had been 1-0 up from the first leg and, after the Italians missed a couple of early chances, Karim Benzema fired them ahead on the night in the 34th minute.
A penalty from captain Sergio Ramos on the hour all but ended the tie, with Luis Muriel clipping in a fine free-kick to pull a goal back for Atalanta before substitute Marco Asensio wrapped things up late on. across the
National team boss Steve Clarke has opted to call up Hibs striker Kevin Nisbet and Southampton’s former England Under20s ace Che Adams for the World Cup qualifiers against Austria, Israel and Faroe Islands.
The standout selection is English Premier League forward Adams, who has been in fine form for the Saints this season alongside Danny Ings.
The 24-year-old has bagged seven league goals, including strikes against Manchester City and Chelsea.
Clarke’s predecessor Alex McLeish failed in a bid to persuade Adams, during his time at Birmingham, to switch allegiances in February 2019.
The Scotland squad in full is: Craig Gordon (Hearts); David Marshall (Derby); Jon McLaughlin (Rangers); Andrew Considine (Aberdeen); Declan Gallagher (Motherwell); Grant Hanley (Norwich); Jack Hendry (KV Oostende, on loan from Celtic); Scott McKenna (Nottingham Forest); Stephen O’Donnell (Motherwell); Liam Palmer (Sheffield Wednesday); Andy Robertson (Liverpool); Greg Taylor (Celtic); Kieran Tierney (Arsenal); Stuart Armstrong (Southampton); Ryan Christie (Celtic); John Fleck (Sheffield United); Ryan Jack (Rangers); John McGinn (Aston Villa); Callum McGregor (Celtic); Kenny McLean (Norwich); Scott McTominay (Manchester United); Che Adams (Southampton); Lyndon Dykes (Queens Park Rangers); Ryan Fraser (Newcastle United); Oli McBurnie (Sheffield United); Kevin Nisbet (Hibs).