Holland is a funeral! Manchester City destroys Leipzig in one hour and reaches the quarter-finals of the Champions League

PEP FANTASIES AGAIN IN THE PLAY-OFF LEAGUE

Josep Guardiola in another European Cup campaign. One of the most conceptual coaches in football history, one of the greatest mentors of our time. But for some reason, he has never had success in this tournament after Barcelona. Either luck will turn away, then the Catalan will surpass himself. But sooner or later this string of failures has to end, right?

And this time Pep couldn’t deny himself the pleasure of trying to confuse his opponent. In the initial selection of the starting eleven, it looked like it would be a classic 4-3-3 with John Stones on the right wing, but Guardiola wouldn’t be himself if it were that simple. His formation can be described as a 3-2-4-1, in which Stones has been assigned the role of defensive midfielder.

It is also noteworthy that Leipzig goalscorer Riyad Mahrez remained in reserve and Bernardo Silva took his place.

Marco Rose had a classic 4-2-3-1. Compared to the first match, the flanks of the defense changed: Benjamin Hendrichs and David Raum instead of Lukas Klosterman and Marcel Halstenberg, and also instead of striker Andre Silva released defensive midfielder Amadou Aydar. The latest reshuffle led to a number of others, with the result that Timo Werner was at the forefront of the attack.

TIME FROM THE NAME OF HOLLAND

Naturally, the “citizens” from the first minutes rushed to storm the gates of Janis Blasviha in order to gain the necessary advantage after the 1:1 away draw. Erling Haaland could already implement the mentor’s plan at the beginning of the match, but he did not implement the one-on-one exit, for which he was famous during his grandiose performance in the Bundesliga. But he has nevertheless become the main figure of the first half.

Who knows, maybe the guests would have managed to survive, but in the 21st minute, misfortune befell Henrichs. Rodri won the fight on horseback against him and from half a meter hit him with the ball in his hand. Furthermore, the touch was minimal and the ball did not change its trajectory, but Slavko Vincic, after a suggestion from the VAR, was merciless: penalty. Holland were also ruthless – 1:0.

Photo source: IMAGO

And after just a couple of minutes, the Norwegian doubled his lead, and scored this goal by two thirds: first he put pressure on Blasvich, forcing him to deflect the ball from the address, then he threw the ball under the blow of Kevin de Bruyne headed in after a free-kick vertical pass and finally finished the ball off by hitting the crossbar into the net. And the “Bulls” were knocked out, because even one goal was not enough for them now.

EDERSON PSYCHANUL, VINCICH FORGIVED

The Citizens were already dominating their opponents like Grigor Clegane on Tyrion Lannister, and then the Slovenian referee team with Slavko Vincic in the lead suddenly turned out to be on their side. The rare attack of the guests ended with a long pass behind Nataku Ake away to Konrad Laimer, in which Ederson, who had jumped out of the gate, literally jumped, but all that the Germans managed to achieve in this episode was a yellow card to Werner for disputes …

Photo source: AFLO

However, City didn’t need this unsolicited help. The team completely dominated, overtook the opponent in shots 13-2 and went on the counterattack already with a devastating score: seconds before the whistle, Ruben Dias hit the post after a corner and the Netherlands, who rushed to the rescue , brought the ball into the net together with Aydara.

HOLAND WRITES HISTORY

Weary of failures in the Champions League, City appeared to be afraid to stop and stumble, so they pushed ahead with the inevitability of a finisher in the second half. Already four minutes after the resumption of play, the hosts played a simple but effective combination, which Ilkay Gundogan completed with an equally simple and effective hit on the opponent on the backswing and a well-aimed shot into the far corner.

But these “citizens” did not seem enough. After another four minutes, Holland himself, with a repeated finishing move after a corner kick, punched the ball through all the defenders and poor Blasviha – 5:0. Do you think so? No matter how! Five minutes later, the indefatigable Norwegian was in the right place again and was on target after Manuel Akanji’s effort.

Photo source: IMAGO

Even from these sparse descriptions, you can see that the finest night of Haaland’s career turned out to be somewhat…unusual. On the one hand he was almost flawless, but on the other hand he scored all the goals…too easy, or something like that. The first – from the floppy disk, the rest – from one form or another of finishing. Although this is where the skill is manifested – to be at the right time in the right place, to get ahead of the defenders. And for this, the city bosses acquired the Norwegian Guardiola, so that he would end up in someone else’s penalty area, and there are enough applicants to create in the team without him.

It is also impressive that in 62 minutes on the pitch Haaland scored as much as in the previous five matches of the tournament. And with 10 goals, he emerged victorious in the race for goalscorers. With such a striker, Guardiola is obliged to take the Champions League.

Champions League. 1/8 final. return match

Manchester City – Leipzig – 7:0 (3:0)

Goals: Netherlands, 22 – from the penalty spot – 1:0. Holland, 24 – 2:0. Holland, 45+2 – 3:0. Gundogan, 49 – 4:00 am. Netherlands, 54 – 5:0. Holland, 57 – 6:00. DeBruyne, 90+2 – 7:00.

Manchester City: Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Rodri (Phillips 64), Stones (Sergio Gomez 64), B. Silva, de Bruyne, Gundogan (Foden 55), Grealish (Marez 55), Holland (Alvarez 63) .

Leipzig: Blasvih, Henrichs (Klosterman, 80), Orban, Guardiol, Raum, Aidara (Simakan, 63), Kampl, Laimer, Forsberg (A. Silva, 63), Soboslai (Olmo, 72), Werner (Poulsen, 63).

Warnings: Henrichs, 21. Werner, 34. De Bruyne, 67. Akanji, 77.

Judge: Vincic (Slovenia).