UCL: Ruthless Man City thrash Bayern Munich 3-0; Inter Milan pick massive away win in Portugal
Premier League champions Manchester City are on step into the last four of the UEFA Champions League following an impressive 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their quarter-final fixture at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.
It was a reunion between two familiar foes Pep Guardiola and newly appointed Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel who denied the former the chance for Champions League glory during the German’s tenure as the head coach of Chelsea.
City immediately hit the ground running with multiple attacking threats in Bayern Munich’s half and managed to break the deadlock in the 27th minute with a magnificent curler from Rodri into the top corner of the net to put the host upfront.
Goalkeeper Ederson Moraes put up several brilliant saves to deny Bayern Munich from scoring in the opening minutes of the second half including two attempts by former Manchester City Leroy Sane to keep the English club in the lead.
Meanwhile on the 70th minute mark, Bernardo Silva calmly headed Erling Haaland’s cross home to double the scoreline for the hosts before Haaland acrobatically put John Stones’ cross into the back of the net to seal the well-deserved victory for Manchester City.
It was the Norwegian’s 45th goal for Manchester City across all competitions this season.
Towards the full time whistle, Rodri almost grabbed an unlikely brace after the Spaniard rose up to power a corner kick directly at goal but it was brilliantly saved by Yann Sommer’s last-gasp attempt.
It was a statement win for Pep Guardiola and his team over Bundesliga giants and would earn a sweet revenge over Tuchel, who defeated City with Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final, given the Cityzens avoid a 3-goal margin loss in the second leg.
Meanwhile, Serie A giants Inter Milan earned a comfortable 2-0 away win over Portuguese side Benfica at the Da Luz stadium in the other quarter-final match of the night.
Two second half goals by Nicolo Barella and Romelu Lukaku gave Inter a huge advantage of scaling through to the semifinals going into the second leg at San Siro next week.
