Manchester City held in check in Leipzig, Inter Milan hardly dominate Porto

First ultra-dominant in the first period then dominated and under pressure, Manchester City conceded a draw (1-1) on Wednesday February 22 in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League in Leipzig, and everything will be to be done in three weeks at the Etihad Stadium. To see the quarter-finals, the men of Pep Guardiola, deprived Wednesday evening of Kevin De Bruyne for the trip to Leipzig, will have to win on their lawn.

Ilkay Gündogan’s teammates played two completely different spells at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig in eastern Germany. For the first 45 minutes, they completely confiscated the ball, with at times up to more than 80% possession. Leipzig coach Marco Rose had decided to let the Citizens play the game, with a single shot on target for the Red Bulls in Timo Werner’s added time, without much danger for the English club’s goalkeeper, Ederson.

But this dominance in the possession of Manchester City only resulted in a goal by Riyad Mahrez, the man in form of the Mancunians since January. On a passing error from Xaver Schlager for Konrad Laimer, the citizens recovered the ball by Jack Grealish. Mahrez took advantage of the slight deviation from Ilkay Gündogan, to leave no chance to Janis Blaswich shortly before the half-hour mark (27e). Mahrez is on his seventh goal in 2023 with City (four in the Premier League, two in the Cup and one in the Champions League), for three assists.

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The skyblues, however, did not accelerate enough while Leipzig was cornered in its camp, and paid for this lack of desire in the second half. Benjamin Henrichs (defender of Leipzig, at the microphone of DAZN) then estimated that the worst had been avoided, despite the delay on the scoreboard: “In the first half, we were happy to be trailing only 1-0. On the contrary in the second half, we even had the impression that we could have obtained something better than the draw. We were braver than them after the break. »

A second period to the advantage of Leipzig

Leipzig returned to the pitch for the second half showing a completely different face, much more offensive and much more pressing, with in particular the German international Benjamin Henrichs, whose shot in the 55e minute did not find the frame. Marco Rose (Leipzig coach, at the microphone of DAZN) agrees: “In the second half we played at Champions League level, on an equal footing with Manchester City and that’s what we wanted. »

Under pressure, Manchester City did not find the solution and the opportunities multiplied for Leipzig. At the 63e minute, on the left side of the German attack, the Portuguese André Silva dribbled past several players but his shot was stopped by Ederson (63e).

Josko Gvardiol manages to take advantage of the Manchester City defense to equalise.  On February 22, 2023, in Leipzig, Germany.

The City goalkeeper was put to use again on a strike from Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai in the 69e minute, diverted with your fingertips. On the following corner, the Brazilian is not exempt from any reproach completely missing his exit. Croatian revelation of the 2022 World Cup, Leipzig central defender Josko Gvardiol took the best of City’s defense to equalize in the 70the. The entry into play of Christopher Nkunku at the 63e minute of play gave Leipzig an additional offensive weapon. Despite opportunities on both sides, the score did not move in the last twenty minutes.

Lukaku “glad to have helped”, Onana savior

Romelu Lukaku released Inter Milan from the trap set by Sergio Conceiçao’s FC Porto by knocking out the Dragons reduced to ten (1-0) at the end of the match. “Romelu, Romelu! », were able to sing the tifosi nerazzurri, relieved, when the Belgian, who entered at the start of the second period, released San Siro by scoring in two stages. He took over a ball first returned by the post on a first header, on a cross from Nicolo Barella (86e).

Inter Milan's Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku celebrates his winning goal against Porto in the Champions League on February 22, 2023 in Milan, Italy.

The Nerazzurri will thank for a long time “Big Rome” for having forced the Portuguese lock, which only yielded when the Dragons found themselves at ten after the exclusion of Otavio (78e) for a second warning. Romelu Lukaku, on Prime Video: “It was too important to win. We wanted to score another goal, but we didn’t succeed, but the important thing was to win. Personal liberation? I had complicated months with the injury, I’m happy to help the team achieve its goals. I’m not an individualist, I only think of Inter Milan, I’m happy to have helped the team. » A nice way for Lukaku to perhaps finally turn the page on a failed World Cup.

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Internazionale will not soon forget either goalkeeper André Onana’s match, author of several decisive saves, including an incredible double save at the start of the second half from which the Porto attackers did not return.

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If the Portuguese, beaten for the first time in four months after 22 games without a loss (in all competitions), remain in the race, Simone Inzaghi has pulled off a nice coup by putting down a team which, since the arrival of Conceiçao on the bench in 2017, has steadily taken over Italian clubs.

As expected, the two ex-teammates of Lazio Rome played an Italian match, with maximum attention paid to tactics and calculated risk-taking.

The World with AFP

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