City crush Bayern Munich at the Etihad in their first Champions League quarter-final.
The match does not go down very easily. City methodically get to work from the opening minutes. Bayern are ready for the onslaught and methodically disrupt the home side’s attacks.
Riyad Marez is not in City’s starting line-up. Bernardo Silva takes his place. A brilliant decision by Josep Guardiola!
The first attacking move for the Cityzens, which ends with a shot into the Bayern net, comes on 21 minutes when Erling Haaland shoots straight at Munich goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
On 26 minutes, the visitors respond with a dangerous strike from Jamal Musiala from outside the box, Ruben Dias stopping it.
After a minute, the efforts of the Cityzens are rewarded. Rodri opens the scoring. An unimaginably beautiful left-footed shot from outside the box stricks the top left-hand corner of the net to make it 1-0.
In the 34th minute, before Bayern have time to recover, they almost concede a second goal, but Sommer, already lying on the ground, saves Ilkay Gündogan’s shot from close range.
The visitors start the second half much more vigorously and create a number of chances at Ederson’s goal. The Cityzens’ goalkeeper is confident.
City stifle their attacking impulse with strikes from Nathan Ake and Dias. Sommer saves his team on both occasions.
The Cityzens add to the momentum and double the lead in the 70th minute. Bayern make a mistake on the defensive end. Jack Grealish makes an interception and passes with his heel to Haaland. The Norwegian crosses from the left edge of the penalty area on the head of Bernard, who shoots over the hands of Sommer for 2-0.
Six minutes later, the hosts put their opponents to bed. After a cross into the box, John Stones heads the ball over to Haaland who heads it in from close range to make it 3-0.
The end of the match sees City on the attack, with a number of good opportunities to score, but the score remains unchanged.
City have a great match against a team that is just rebuilding under new coach Thomas Tuchel. However, even with that goal margin, the return trip to Munich does not look a formality. Guardiola knows very well what Munich are capable of at the Allianz Arena, despite the fact that the City crush Bayern at the Etihad.
