Yannick Carrasco had his last 3 days off with Atletico, so we didn’t have a duel with Kevin De Bruyne at the Etihad Stadium. City controlled the first half with about 75 percent of the ball, but the home team didn’t get a single big chance to score. At Atletico, defense was the word, and visitors were absolutely nothing offensive.
It went from one-way traffic with no appreciable risk on target to a promising start in the second half. Savic saved a shot from Gundogan, after which Sterling hit a short distance to shoot the ball towards the goal.
There was more fire at Atletico for some time, but both Griezmann and Llorente played the knockout poorly. The danger continued to come from the city. Oblak kept Atletico straight with a free kick from De Bruyne and Laporte missed a big header at a corner kick.
Twenty minutes before the end, Pep Guardiola entered with a three-way substitution. Foden was one of them and was on the field for less than a minute when he fired De Bruyne with a superb cross pass. From an acute angle Oblak gave the check: 1-0.
The spell was finally broken for City, and the Wall of Madrid was demolished. There was no reaction from Atletico, so City will go down to the Wanda Metropolitano next Wednesday by a narrow margin.
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