Manchester City defeated Bayern Munich’s challenge Manchester City with a 1-1 draw on Wednesday at the Allianz Arena, advancing 4-1 overall and reaching the semifinals of the Champions League.
For the second consecutive year, City will face record 14-time champions and defending champion Real Madrid in the semifinals as they pursue their first Champions League trophy.
Manchester City beats Bayern Munich
A fervent home crowd in Munich helped Bayern, who were down 3-0 from the first leg of the quarterfinal match a week prior, but they were unable to capitalise on their early chances.
After missing a first-half penalty, Haaland took advantage of Dayot Upamecano’s error to score his 48th goal of an incredible season in the 57th minute, virtually putting the outcome beyond question.
With seven minutes left in the game, Joshua Kimmich converted a penalty following a handball call against Manuel Akanji, but at that moment, the goal was only a consolation. Bayern had finally scored.
The German champions’ agony was then made complete in the closing seconds when coach Thomas Tuchel was dismissed from the sideline after receiving a second yellow card.
Guardiola, who led Bayern from 2013 to 2016, said: “I am really thrilled to be three in a row semifinals [Manchester City]. “You saw how good [Bayern] is; I could not have expected anything different.”
The nuances matter in this competition. In these two games, we were present at the appropriate times.
We made some adjustments in the second half, and ever since the first minute, we felt like we had the game well under control.
Manchester City The first half was exciting despite the absence of goals, especially for Bayern Munich defender Upamecano.
The center-back had already turned up a lacklustre display and contributed to City’s second goal a week prior when referee Clement Turpin dismissed him after only 18 minutes for taking down Haaland. He and Bayern were Manchester City greatly relieved when the offside flag raised by the assistant referee instantly overturned the dismissal.
Yet another fright was not far off. This time, Upamecano was penalised after his arm slipped from behind his back and touched an Ilkay Gundogan shot, resulting in a penalty and a caution for the Bayern player.
After a protracted period of time, however, Haaland gave Upamecano a second chance when he blasted his penalty over the Manchester City crossbar, ending a streak of 18 successful penalty kicks (excluding shootouts), and it was his first miss while wearing a City jersey.
Apart from Upamecano’s exploits, Bayern’s efforts to begin their comeback were hampered by a string of near-misses.
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Leroy Sane, a former City winger, missed the finest opportunity for the home team in the first half in the 17th minute after being sent through one-on-one with Ederson.
Four minutes later, the Man City custodian Manchester City deflected a free-kick from Sane wide of the post, and in the last moments of the first half, the City defence kept their own and stopped attempts from Kingsley Coman and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.
With all of our opportunities, Kimmich stated, “It is really frustrating that we didn’t take the lead.” If we had won this game 1-0 in the first half, I would have enjoyed to watch how it played out.
Early in the second half, Kingsley Coman’s low attempt was stopped by Ederson after Bayern had another opportunity. The tie was basically over as a game when City sprinted up the opposite end in a flash.
With ease, Kevin De Bruyne entered the Bayern half and found Haaland with the pass. The Norwegian didn’t require a second invitation to blast a left-footed shot past Yann Sommer after Upamecano slid to the ground in front of him.
The 22-year-old replaced Kylian Mbappe as the youngest player to reach that milestone with his 12th goal in the Champions Manchester City League this season and 35th overall.
Despite Akanji’s handball being reviewed and Kimmich scoring from the penalty spot, Haaland’s goal was more than enough to put City on pace to win the European Championship for the first time.