Manchester City booked their first ever Champions League final
Manchester City booked their place in the Champions League final for the first time, after beating PSG in the semi final on Tuesday night.
City will face either Real Madrid or Chelsea in the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, where Liverpool famously beat AC Milan in 2005, on May 29th, with a chance to win their first European title.
For Pep Guardiola it will the chance to get over the Champions League hoodoo that has seen him fail to reach a final since winning a second one with Barcelona in 2011.
Last week the Premier League leaders started the job with a 2-1 victory over the Ligue 1 champions, after Riyad Mahrez's free kick had gone through the PSG wall.
In some ways City were a bit fortunate to lead at the end of the first 90 minutes, after Mauricio Pochettino's side dominated the first half, but they were worth the second half comeback.
Just six days later, the Parisians were without key man Kylian Mbappe going into a second leg that they needed two goals to have any chance to go through, in an unseasonably cold and wet Manchester.
PSG were awarded a penalty early in the game but VAR correctly over turned it as there was certainly no handball.
City went ahead minutes later when Ederson's brilliant pass found Oleksandr Zinchenko and the Ukrainian passed to Kevin de Bruyne whose shot was deflected into the path of Mahrez who made it 1-0 on the night.
The visitors were willing opposition but with Mauro Icardi barely doing anything up front it felt like they were playing with 10 men at times.
Ruben Dias in particular was a rock at the back, although Marquinhos might have equalised when he headed against the top of the bar.
Keylor Navas made some good saves at the beginning of the second half but Mahrez scored his second on the night, and third of the tie, when he got on the end of Phil Foden's pass in the 63rd minute.
Things went from bad to worse just six minutes later when Angel di Maria continued his dislike of being in Manchester, getting sent off for kicking out at Fernandinho.
PSG really didn't have anything to offer going forward from then, with Neymar remaining quiet throughout, and ended without a single shot on target.
For the French side it is yet another year without reaching the pinnacle of European football. For City, that has now become a real possibility for the first time.
Post a Comment