Fans could go to final in stadium
technically-pleasing City. There is, though, no getting away from the fact Guardiola and his team were the beneficiaries of a Luiz shocker.
He looked favourite to intercept a headed flick-on but dallied as Mahrez nipped in and pulled the City man to the ground. Mahrez had been closing in on goal and Anthony Taylor produced instant red.
Luiz was still trudging around the pitch’s perimeter when De Bruyne passed the penalty home.
After putting the outcome of this restart match beyond doubt early in the second half, De Bruyne had certainly done enough to have an early night.
His was one of a blizzard of withdrawals as both Guardiola and Arteta – although his hand was mostly forced – took full advantage of being able to change half the outfield team.
This is why City will be at a huge advantage in this season’s finale, bringing on Phil Foden, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero. That is some bench.
On the flip side, there will, as
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Guardiola said, be physical problems but the lay-off had no bearing on Eric Garcia’s sickening injury (left) when Ederson flattened his teammate late on.
It looked truly awful. The concern on the players’ faces told its own story, some covering their heads with their jerseys.
Luiz’s daftness and De Bruyne’s and City’s slickness seemed suddenly irrelevant, as did Foden’s late strike.
Fingers crossed for a swift recovery, Eric.
MANCHESTER City fans could get to see their club lift the Champions League trophy.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin admitted for the first time they are ready to consider allowing supporters to watch the mini-tournament in Portugal.
Ceferin even said UEFA would be “incompetent” if they ruled out the possibility of staging games with fans because of the progress in trying to get football up and running again.
City boss Pep Guardiola’s men are one of the favourites to win the trophy after beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the first leg of their last 16-tie, thanks to a winner from Kevin De Bruyne (above).
Ceferin said: “If we were to answer now, then we don’t think we could have spectators. But things are changing rapidly.
“We haven’t decided yet about fans. We would be incompetent to make that decision now because the situation could change. We will decide in July.”
The Champions League will be played out in a minitournament in Lisbon with the quarters and semifinals as one-off ties running from August 12-23.