Pep Guardiola's aspect spent an awful lot of the night banging their heads in opposition to the red and white brick wall assembled by way of Atletico's massed defence on the Etihad Stadium. But Guardiola sent on Phil Foden halfway thru the second 1/2 and his elegant bypass teed up De Bruyne to finally reward City for his or her territorial dominance.
While Guardiola launched a water bottle in a frenzied party that underlined what a trying out night time it have been for his group, the City boss will understand the tie is a ways from over. At the start of a season-defining eleven days for treble-chasing City, this became a qualified success that justified their affected person performance. But Atletico have already knocked out Manchester United within the remaining sixteen this season, even as Liverpool fell victim to Diego Simeone's aspect whilst the Reds were the holders in 2019-20.
The Spanish champions will nonetheless consider they are able to cause every other wonder within the 2nd leg in Madrid on April thirteen. City have no margin for mistakes over the following two weeks because the Premier League leaders host Liverpool, just a point behind them in the title race, on Sunday. They head to Madrid next week before dealing with Liverpool again within the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley three days later.
Guardiola has frequently been criticised for his curious crew picks in preceding Champions League knockout tiers defeats with City. That price elicited a scathing reaction from Guardiola on Monday whilst he joked he continually "over-thinks" his "stupid" strategies. However, Guardiola's sport-converting selection to introduce Foden must silence some of his critics after it turned a hard nighttime into a essential victory.
Deployed in a low block designed to subdue City, Atletico had been content to sit lower back with five defenders and 3 midfielders aligned across their very own penalty vicinity for long intervals. As ever, City monopolised ownership, but they often discovered themselves shuffling passes throughout midfield before Atletico close the door on them.
Simeone's famously pragmatic game-plans are anathema to enthusiasts of attacking soccer, with his cautious strategies providing a stark contrast to the purist principles espoused by using Guardiola. But, because the rain poured down, Guardiola's frustration became mounting, as was his experience of deja vu. When Simeone's Atletico removed Guardiola's Bayern Munich in the 2016 semi-finals, they averaged simply 27 percent of the ownership over the two legs.
City more than the double the quantity of passes in comparison to Atletico within the first half, however they had to play with extra invention and urgency. Gradually, City rose to the challenge and Ilkay Gundogan went near with a curling shot that deflected huge off Stefan Savic soon after the c program languageperiod.
De Bruyne's unfastened-kick finally pressured Jan Oblak's first shop, at the same time as Raheem Sterling dragged his effort nicely wide from a dangerous function moments later. Sterling changed into denied a likely penalty after Reinildo's shoulder barge despatched the City ahead tumbling as he tried to reach De Bruyne's bypass. When Aymeric Laporte headed wastefully over from Riyad Mahrez's nook, Guardiola had seen sufficient and he despatched on Foden, Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus.
Foden's arrival changed into an inspired circulate as the England ahead performed a key role when City at final broke via in the 70th minute. Taking possession outdoor the Atletico region, Foden shimmied away from two defenders and slipped a particular pass to De Bruyne, who timed his run flawlessly to drill a low strike into the some distance nook from a decent angle.
