City cruise past Monchengladbach
The Portuguese connection of Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva combined for almost identical goals as Manchester City beat Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0 yesterday to close in on a fourth straight appearance in the Champions League quarterfinals.
A 19th straight win for the Premier League leaders never looked in doubt in the last-16 first leg from the moment Cancelo, City’s playmaker at fullback, pounced on a loose pass and swung in a cross from the left that the diminutive Silva headed in at the far post in the 29th minute.
The same combination struck again in the 65th minute, Cancelo sending over a similar-looking cross this time to the byline, where Silva nodded the ball across goal for Gabriel Jesus to prod into the net from inside the six-yard box.
It was another dominant display by Pep Guardiola’s side, who are unbeaten in all competitions dating back to more than three months ago and have won every game since mid-December.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid struggled to break down 10-man Atalanta before Ferland Mendy netted an 86th-minute winner to give the Spanish giants a 1-0 win in their first leg match yesterday.
Madrid entered the game as the big favourites despite a slew of injuries, and Atalanta’s chances diminished further when midfielder Remo Freuler was sent off in the 17th minute after being adjudged to have denied a goalscoring opportunity.
But Madrid – who were missing players including forward Karim Benzema, midfielder Eden Hazard and captain Sergio Ramos – still found it difficult to test Atalanta goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini until the end of the first half, when he pulled off a great reaction save to keep out Casemiro’s header from Toni Kroos’ free kick.
Just as it looked as if Atalanta would hold on for a draw, Mendy received the ball outside the area after a corner and curled a shot into the right side of the net from 20 yards.
The second leg will be on March 16 in Madrid.
Madrid are 13-time European Cup winners while Atalanta only made their debut in the competition last year.