Man City are the bookies’ most backed in the UCL horse race
The second round of the Uefa Champions League first-leg fixtures took place this week, with convincing victories for the two sides that have been labelled as outright favourites.
Football is intriguing for many reasons, especially its unpredictability. That said, Manchester City have the best chance to finally land the coveted Uefa Champions League this season.
Pep Guardiola’s side extended their winning streak in all competitions to 19 games when they beat German side Borussia Monchengladbach 2-0 in the first leg of their round of 16 encounter.
Guardiola, ever the perfectionist, bemoaned his side’s lack of being more clinical in front of goal: “In general, it was good. We controlled the game and conceded a chance at the end. Unfortunately, we were not clinical enough up front, especially when we were one-on-one against the keeper. We have to improve on that.”
Despite the Spanish coach’s critique, City were never troubled by the Germans until deep into stoppage time, and scored once in each half through Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus to remain the overwhelming favourites for a spot in the last eight.
They also extended their unbeaten run to 26 games in all competitions and are bookmakers’ most-backed horse in the race for European glory.
But Guardiola, who was roped in in 2016 to help guide the Citizens up Everest, is downplaying talk of going all the way. “When I see how Bayern Munich played [winning 4-1 at Lazio], I do not think so,” Guardiola said when asked about City being favourites. “It is a big challenge to recover the players and make sure they are in the best possible condition. If people want to say we are favourites, it’s okay – we will accept it.”
Bayern, last season’s champions and Guardiola’s former side, are still in the running. They beat Italian side Lazio 4-1 to put one firmly in the quarterfinals.
The victory extended the holders’ unbeaten Champions League run to 18 games and came as a relief after a two-match winless run in the Bundesliga. In the process, their imperious forward Robert Lewandowski moved to third spot on the Champions League all-time leading goal scorer list, leapfrogging Spanish icon Raúl and trailing only behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The predatory Pole opened the scoring through a poor back pass, which took him to 72 goals in the competition. He is still way off Ronaldo (134) and Messi (119).
“Everybody met the expectations, we had a very good team performance and everybody applied pressure,” Bayern’s coach Hansi Flick told Sky Sports after the game. “Everybody had the will to do something special right from the start. The win is well deserved. I am very happy. We made a giant step towards the quarterfinal.”
Other sides moving closer to the last eight are Chelsea and Real Madrid. Both sides secured 1-0 first-leg victories over Atletico Madrid and Atalanta respectively.
Atletico would’ve been licking their lips at the prospect of facing Chelsea while Frank Lampard was still in charge. That’s because under the former England midfielder, one never knew which Chelsea was going to turn up. Under Thomas Tuchel, there has been much more consistency.
This was demonstrated when Tuchel’s side outfoxed another wily fox in Diego Simeone, and will head into the second leg with a precious away goal thanks to a special Olivier Giroud overhead kick.
Madrid, who have grappled with inconsistency this season, will have no qualms about their controversial victory over Atalanta. The Italians side went down to 10 men after Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler was sent off for barging into Ferland Mendy when the left-back was about to burst into the box. That undoubtedly changed the game, with the Italians having to factor in their oneman disadvantage.
Even so, it was not smooth sailing for Los Blancos, who only found the winner in the 86th minute, thanks to an exceptional and pinpoint strike from Mendy outside the box. The good news for Atalanta is that given Madrid’s on and off form this season, the tie is far from over. The same is true for Atletico against Chelsea, in what should be another edgy match in a fortnight.
They extended their unbeaten run to 26 games in all competitions and are bookmakers’ most-backed horse in the race for European glory