Manchester City supporters will have had to be patient and perhaps struggle a little against sleep to see their team win a painful 1-0 win against Atlético Madrid.
Guardiola did Guardiola, and Simeone did Simeone. This is how we can essentially summarize the opposition of styles served Tuesday evening by the Citizens and the Colchoneros. Eager to always have their foot on the ball, the English team monopolized it without much surprise throughout the meeting. For their part, the people of Madrid, who are not afraid to leave the keys to the game to their opponents, were content to wait patiently in their camp, hoping for an error from the Skyblues.
This asymmetrical fight resulted in a most disappointing, if not soporific, first period: 0 shots on target recorded at the break, a sad observation in a quarter-final of the Champions League.
The second act started on a slightly more open basis, failing to offer real clear opportunities. While Atlético got some interesting situations on their rare counter-attacks, Aymeric Laporte was close to finding the target by heading in a corner (63and).
Foden’s entry makes the difference
It was only after the hour of play and the entry in particular of Phil Foden on the English side that the locals managed to really take over. By accelerating in the axis and eliminating two opponents, Foden offered Kevin De Bruyne his first goal of the season in the Champions League on a cross shot that Oblak could not repel (70and).
Overall, the 21-year-old English prodigy was the only one to put some rhythm into the game and pose real problems for the Spanish defense.
If this difference of a goal may seem slight, it would take a completely different Atlético next Wednesday in Madrid to overthrow Manchester City. Without the slightest offensive ambition, the partners of Antoine Griezmann have not shown that they have the solutions to hope to go further in this Champions League.