Manchester City are easily in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. After the 0-5, the Citizens had enough of a dry 0-0 at home against Sporting CP. Kevin De Bruyne remained on the bench for an entire match.
If Pep Guardiola lets a fit Kevin De Bruyne start on the bench, then you already know. This return round in the 1/8th final of the Champions League was nothing for Manchester City. Logical too, after the 0-5 in Lisbon a few weeks ago.
City-Coach Pep Guardiola tried to sprinkle the sand in the eyes beforehand by having “Anything is still possible, you never know’” just before the game. But his five other substitutions compared to the derby win against Manchester United last weekend betrayed that the City coach did indeed know that the spoils were already in beforehand.
While it was already 0-4 in the first match after 45 minutes, the first half was a lot more balanced this time. The Citizens claimed possession of the ball fairly quickly, as usual, but many opportunities did not arise from that. Sporting was in a good position, focused and gave little space. Jesus claimed a penalty and Foden sprinkled here and there with a nice pass, though. But that was not enough to hurt Sporting.
In the second half, City immediately succeeded in bringing Sporting to its knees. After a nice run by substitute Mahrez in the enemy sixteen, Jesus scored from a very sharp angle. However, the VAR brought solace to the Portuguese and disallowed the goal for offside.
Photo: REUTERS
Bizarre change
The Sporting players were not discouraged and continued to fight for every ball. They were clearly keen on a good result after last time’s pandoering. The match was once again balanced. The signal for Guardiola to unpack with a bizarre substitution.
Just past the 70th minute, he pulled goalkeeper Ederson off the field. In his place, 36-year-old third keeper Scott Carson came between the posts. His first minutes after almost a year. Less than two minutes later, Carson made a nice save after Paulinho came rushing at him, after which he needed care. Other than that, hardly anything noteworthy happened. So a dry 0-0. Mission accomplished for City and Sporting also went home satisfied.
Photo: AP
