Guardiol scored Guardiola – Sport – Kommersant
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The final matches took place at the start of the Champions League playoffs. RB Leipzig hosted one of the main tournament favorites Manchester City at home and did not lose, achieving a 1-1 draw. Inter managed to defeat Porto at home, but only with a minimum score – 1:0.
In another German-English confrontation of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, Manchester City looked like a clear favorite against the background of the ambitious, daring, but not yet overgrown with muscle mass in the form of titles and regalia, Leipzig. Even in Germany, he still does not reach the category of heavyweights – Bayern or Borussia Dortmund. However, the English superclub had to be extremely vigilant at the Red Bull Arena, where they had already lost in the group stage of the last Champions League. Moreover, City experienced certain personnel difficulties, primarily related to the absence of Belgian playmaker Kevin de Bruyne due to illness. Although Leipzig lacked the injured Dani Olmo, and Christopher Nkunku, whom Manchester mentor Josep Guardiola called a world-class football player, only recovered from injury and was not 100% ready, so he remained on the bench.
Of course, Erling Haaland’s team should have been wary of Marco Rosa in the first place, and not only because the City striker has shipped 32 goals in 31 matches this season. Even when he was a player of Borussia Dortmund, he managed to make a nightmare of Leipzig, scoring six goals in four meetings. Meanwhile, the Norwegian was mostly indifferently watching the reshuffling of partners, who from the first minutes began to weave their signature combination laces. The problem is that the guests did it away from the penalty area and did not even look in the direction of Haaland. Once they stretched from the corner Janis Blaswich, the replacement for the long out of action goalkeeper and captain of the Red Bulls Peter Gulacha, but in general they played absolutely without a goal.
But in the 27th minute, the hosts themselves made a goal error. The loss in their own half of the field led to the fact that Jack Grealish instantly launched Riyad Mahrez into the penalty area, who was also helped by Ilkay Gundogan with a distracting maneuver. The Algerian was alone against Blasvih and sent the ball into the net. Soon, Haaland could still prove himself, closing at the far post after giving a corner discount to Rodri, if his scoring instinct worked in time, and so he was late for this moment. However, then the formidable striker again went into the shadows, but Grilish, who was very noticeable along with Bernardo Silva, almost increased the score. His biting blow fell just above the crossbar. Leipzig, on the other hand, created some kind of pre-goal situation only at the end of the first half, when Timo Werner hit the target and forced the frankly bored City goalkeeper Ederson to react. Otherwise, it was not clear how Rosa’s wards were going to recoup.
The second half began with the fact that the hosts almost conceded the second goal when they lost at their own penalty area, and again they could be punished by Mahrez. Blasvikha secured the field player, who got in the way of the ball, which flew into the goal. But Leipzig still managed to change the course of the match. Successfully replaced Benjamin Henrichs, whose appearance for some reason was ignored by the Manchester players, who allowed him to threaten the goal twice in a row. Moreover, in the second episode, the German defender simply forgave the guests, missing from a lethal position. Then Andre Silva attacked very dangerously, and even Rose lifted Nkunku off the bench. City seems to have finally woken up Haaland, pushing through Joshko Guardiola, who was guarding him, at speed. That’s just hit the Norwegian inaccurately. But Guardiol was accurate when, with a corner in the 70th minute, he won air in someone else’s penalty area. The central defender of the Croatian national team equalized, and rightly so.
Guardiola never responded to the goal of his almost namesake Guardiola. The Spanish specialist did not even make a single substitution. Although Gündogan had the opportunity to score, Blaswich rescued Leipzig. And in the end, the Manchester team actually agreed to a draw, apparently believing that they would definitely press the opponent at home in the second leg. It is quite likely that this will be the case, but the second half in the performance of the favorite was somewhat alarming. In any case, the 1:1 result still leaves some chances for success for the German club.
Inter and Porto came to the 1/8 finals of the Champions League in good shape, successfully performing in national competitions. This pair already seemed to be almost the most equal at this stage of the playoffs, and taking into account the current form of the teams, it was completely difficult to give preference to one of them. In such a situation, the nuances decide a lot, including the advantage of the home field, and the first match was held in Milan. In the end, it was Inter striker Romelu Lukaku who came on as a substitute and scored the winning goal in the 86th minute. The Italian club won 1-0, but Porto even on the road gave him a lot of trouble and did not realize several great chances, so everything is still very unpredictable in this confrontation.
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