Manchester City winning, death and taxes

It seems as if nothing is more certain than Manchester City destroying their opponents. Citizens dominated against the confused Borussia Monchengladbach side to bring a 0:2 advantage home from Budapest, where the game had to take place due to Covid19 restrictions.

Following their 2-1 defeat to Mainz at the weekend, Borussia Monchengladbach didn’t bring the best of form (W1, D2, L2) into their first-ever Champions League knockout tie. Manchester City, meanwhile, have won each of their last 18 competitive matches - City also entered this tie after four straight wins against German sides in this competition.

The seventh minute gave us the first opportunity for the English side. Phil Foden got into a good position, he created some space for himself and tried his luck from distance. A decent effort towards the bottom right corner was, however, superbly saved by Yann Sommer. However, the Swiss goalkeeper was not able to deflect a beautiful header made by Bernardo Silva in the 29th minute. Joao Cancelo swung the ball deep into the box and found his countryman unmarked, and the close-range header flew past the keeper into the left side of the goal.

First half was played mostly in the defending third of the German side. Man City continued with their cool, calm and collected style of play with which they have been terrorizing their rivals since December 2020.

The second half started with a little bit more energy from Borussia. A couple of efforts went toward Ederson's goal but nothing too threatening. Man City did not let the "hosts" gain momentum - in the 54th minute, Gabriel Jesus went on a weaving run through the defence and got within shooting range but his effort was blocked. However, in the 65th minute, there was no way the German team could have stopped the Brazilian from scoring - Bernardo Silva got to the ball and headed it over the defence to Gabriel Jesus, who met it nicely and fired it into the back of the net to make it 0:2.

It could have been 0:3 in the 78th minute when Phil Foden blew a big chance to score. He slammed the ball from deep inside the box towards the net, but his aim was off and it went narrowly over the crossbar. After that second goal, Man City closed of the game in a routine manner. A deserved win for Pep and his incredible team who recorded their 19th win in a row in all competitions.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Last 16 - First leg

Tuesday

Lazio - Bayern 1-4 (0-3)

/Correa 49 - Lewandowski 9, Musiala 24, Sane 42, Acerbi 47 og/

Atletico Madrid - Chelsea 0-1 (0-0)

/Giroud 71/

Wednesday

Monchengladbach - Manchester City 0:2 (0:1)

/Silva 29', Gabriel Jesus 65'/                       

Atalanta - Real Madrid 0:1 (0:0)

/Mendy 86'/