FC Copenhagen 1, Manchester City 3 (UEFA Champions League Round of 16)
Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, and Phil Foden were the goalscorers as Manchester City beat FC Copenhagen in the first leg of their Champions League knockout game.
Embed from Getty ImagesThey were briefly worried by a Magnus Mattsson equaliser after an Ederson mistake but a professional performance saw them take a big lead into the second leg at the Etihad Stadium – and the lead could have been bigger but for some heroics by goalkeeper Kamil Grabara.
City have now won nine consecutive games in the Champions League – the longest streak by any English side in the competition’s history.
One blot on the performance on the night was a possible groin injury sustained by Jack Grealish who had found game time limited recently while Bernardo Silva also appeared to pick up a knock during the game.
But with almost 80% of the possession and 13 shots on target from a total of 27 underlined City’s dominance over the Danes who had not played a competitive game for two months thanks to their winter break.
Kyle Walker, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jack Grealish were brought into the starting lineup following City’s 2-0 win over Everton at the weekend.
Manuel Akanji, Matheus Nunes, Julian Alvarez, and Jeremy Doku stepped down.
City should have been out of sight by the time they opened the scoring after 10 minutes.
There were chances for Ruben Dias and Kevin De Bruyne as Copenhagen reeled from the early onslaught before City broke the deadlock.
De Bruyne quickly sent a precision strike between Kamil Grabara and the back post after he was released by Phil Foden’s reverse pass into space.
It was Foden’s 10th assist in all competitions this term.
There was an injury blow for Jack Grealish who went off with what looked like a groin injury to be replaced by Jeremy Doku after 21 minutes after boss Pep Guardiola was forced into an early change.
Bernardo Silva’s shot was deflected onto the bar as City started to settled into a familiar passing routine against the Danes who looked off the pace.
City spent too much time in cruise control though and Ederson inexplicably gave the ball away after 34 minutes – with Copenhagen debutant Magnus Mattsson arrowing the loose ball in from the edge of the box for a wildly popular equaliser after Mohamed Elyounoussi’s snap shot was blocked.
City regained the lead just before half time when Bernardo Silva pushed up and anticipated a loose ball coming off a Kevin De Bruyne after he was tackled before flicking the ball with the outside of his left boot beyond the reach of Grabara into the Copenhagen goal for his 8th goal of the season.
De Bruyne and Doku were denied by Grabara as they sought to open a gap up in Denmark and found the home side tough to break down in the second half but their hosts’ fitness started to wane towards the end of the game.
Erling Haaland had earlier had the Parken Stadium applauding an audacious overhead kick and also hit the crossbar.
The Norwegian had two great efforts saved by Grabara at the end of the game but Foden had the last word with his 15th goal of the season on his 50th appearance in the Champions League as he scored City’s third after exchanging passes with De Bruyne on the final City attack.
The result meant that City became the first side in UEFA Champions League history to score three or more goals in seven consecutive matches.