This was not a classic victory for Manchester City. Technically speaking, Wednesday alone wasn’t a victory at all. But it was nonetheless more valuable for it. There will be talk of a mature European performance, and it may have been. But more than that, it was just a resolute defensive display. For periods in the cauldron of Atlético Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano, especially in the second half, City could not proceed with their passing game, but even without central defender Ruben Dias, he had enough time to equalize 0-0 that managed to qualify ( 1-0 on aggregate) to the Champions League semi-finals, where they will face the power of another Spanish capital, Real Madrid.
For City, who went 1-0 up from the first leg, it was the weathering of the storm that came, just enough, at the start of each half and then in the last 20 minutes (plus an additional 12 minutes of stoppage time). Perhaps an element of wealth, John Stones made one exceptional block out of Matthews Cunha, Angel Correa digging a late chance into Ederson’s body and a pair of other chances drifting away. But if Pep Guardiola owes some fortune against anyone it is Diego Simeone, given the way his Bayern Munich side lost on away goals to Atletico in the 2016 semi-final despite dominating both legs.
Just as everything was threatening to go downhill, Fernandinho’s arrival from the bench restored City a measure of control, less with his passing and positioning cleverness than with his fouling and giving City the strength and ingenuity to match Atletico. In the end, dozens of extra minutes were played on the knife’s edge, but City held out, and Guardiola’s reward is another meeting with a club he knows well.
He faced his hometown Real Madrid in the round of 16 in 2020 and won comfortably (4-2 on aggregate), putting pressure on Zinedine Zidane’s side in fouls. Chelsea showed on Tuesday that Real Madrid may still be vulnerable to something similar, but so far this season the inspirations of Luka Modric and Karim Benzema have been enough to drag Real Madrid, even when they were the second best team for long periods.
Meanwhile, his neighbor, Atléico, applied the royal colismo treatment throughout the match, channeling his inner Simeone and playing right with his identity. There appears to have been a deliberate attempt to harass Phil Foden, whose intervention from the bench and an assist from Kevin De Bruyne would have sealed the first leg. Just 13 minutes went by when Filipe Lewis hit his back in a late challenge for a high ball, causing a cut in the back of his head that required a dressing. Confusingly, Felipe was not booked for it, and he took advantage of the postponement to clip De Bruyne’s heel, for which he received a late yellow card. Despite this, Foden looked confused, and his touches for a while left him.
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Felipe was eventually sent off in injury time after Foden pursued. Stefan Savic didn’t join him, confusingly, despite Foden’s handling and pulling Jack Grealish’s hair into the melee. Grealish and Savic later clash in the tunnel. German referee Daniel Seibert was oddly lenient throughout, allowing Atletico to play games and intimidation, but as City largely kept their discipline, Atletico’s antics eventually backfired. Felipe spent three minutes refusing to leave the field, time which could have been used by Atletico to try to find an equaliser when the feeling it might already be coming. Instead, six yellow cards – including the one that gave Felipe his orders to walk – were dealt between the first and seventh minutes of injury time.
City held close to two-thirds of the ball, and were a consistent threat in the first half without exaggerating the effort. One delicious ball with the outside of his boot from Riyad Mahrez cut open Atletico and led to Ilkay Gundogan’s shot at the post. Atletico did not take a shot in the first leg, only taking one before the end of the first half on Wednesday.
But it was a different story after the first half. Atletico went straight and pushed hard and for a while, as the atmosphere swelled, City looked shaky. But while she squandered possession unusually often, she remained defensively resolute. City are a team whose prowess has never been in doubt, but here they have shown they have the heart to fight and the ability to struggle for their success too.
In the other night’s game, Liverpool, who had already led 3-1 from the first leg away to Benfica, were able to rest the players. They drew 3-3 on the day to win 6-4 on aggregate to prepare for the semi-final against Villarreal, another confrontation between England and Spain. This leaves the possibility of the third English final in four years, this one between City and Liverpool, who have achieved two impressive 2-2 draws in the league this season, and meet again in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Saturday.
The feeling after those matches, the operatic clashes of Guardiola’s schools and Jürgen Klopp, was that they were the two best teams in Europe; A possible fourth encounter of the season, and another iteration of a largely friendly competition, might sound like a fitting finale.
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