In an intense clash at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, Manchester City took a huge stride towards the Champions League semi-finals with a resounding 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their quarterfinal tie.
The game marked Pep Guardiola’s first time facing Bayern since his departure from Germany, and he comfortably outsmarted his old rival Thomas Tuchel, who had led Chelsea to victory over City in the 2021 final.
City took the lead after 27 minutes thanks to Rodri’s spectacular first Champions League goal. The midfielder eluded Jamal Musiala’s pressure by cutting onto his left foot from 25 yards out and curling a high shot past Yann Sommer. After that, City went in pursuit of a swift second and came close several times before Bernardo Silva eventually doubled their lead.
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As the pressure ramped up on the Bayern goal heading into the final 20 minutes, Erling Haaland scored his 45th goal of the season, an outright record for a Premier League player.
Guardiola and City have let slip leads in the past against weaker opposition than Bayern, but on this occasion, they were rampant by full-time, and they head into the return match with full command of the tie. The victory was a huge statement of intent from the Premier League leaders, who are now strong favorites to reach the last four.
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Bayern, on the other hand, will be ruing their missed opportunities, particularly in the second half when they came close to scoring several times.
Leroy Sane led the charge for the visitors, but his shot wide before half-time was followed by three on-target efforts following the restart, with the best of them drawing a low save from Ederson. However, the mix-ups in the Bayern back line only increased in number as the game wore on, and they were unable to prevent City from adding to their lead.
Despite some impressive saves from Sommer and Julian Alvarez, Haaland’s goal from a John Stones knockdown left Bayern with an almighty task in the second leg.
The Bundesliga giants will need to produce something special to turn the tie around and avoid a second consecutive quarterfinal exit.
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