Man. City 2-0 Mönchengladbach (agg: 4-0): De Bruyne leads City through
Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Article summary
Kevin De Bruyne and İlkay Gündoğan were on target as Man. City booked their place in the quarter-finals.
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Article body
Manchester City cruised into the last eight as Kevin De Bruyne's stunning strike and İlkay Gündoğan's straightforward finish comfortably saw off Mönchengladbach.
Match in brief
De Bruyne led the way in Budapest, with City making light work of Mönchengladbach to reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. The Belgian set the tone inside 12 minutes with an unstoppable strike from the edge of the area – City’s 100th goal in all competitions this season.
Six minutes later, Phil Foden capped a blistering run by teeing up İlkay Gündoğan, who routinely slotted home to double City's lead. Despite Gladbach’s endeavour and Hannes Wolf’s late effort flashing over, Josep Guardiola’s men fairly powered past their German opponents to progress.
Player of the Match: Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
"A real captain's performance and a masterclass of positional play, finding space and rotating position with other attacking players after opening the scoreline with a wonderful strike from outside the box with his weaker foot. His execution of the 'false nine' position should be recorded and shown in football academies around the world."
Roberto Martínez, UEFA Technical Observer
Check out every official UEFA Champions League Player of the Match.
Matthew Howarth, Man. City reporter
Gladbach’s faint hopes of turning this tie around were all but over after 18 minutes of Tuesday’s second leg. Not once did City relinquish control, squeezing the life out of Marco Rose's side with their intricate passing and high pressing. The Citizens have a lot to prove in the latter stages of the tournament, but it is hard to see anyone stopping Guardiola’s team in this kind of form.
James Thorogood, Mönchengladbach reporter
Up against Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk in the ‘Group of Death’, Gladbach never looked out of their depth as they caught the eye with an attacking and ambitious brand of football. It was the complete opposite over the course of 180 minutes against Manchester City. The ending deserved more after a strong opening, but the story of Gladbach’s first-ever run to the knockout stage of the Champions League will be fondly remembered.
Reaction
Josep Guardiola, Man. City manager: “We were absolutely in control and our movement with and without the ball was brilliant. Unfortunately, we couldn’t score more goals. But, well done.”
Kevin De Bruyne, Man. City midfielder: "Our start obviously helped a lot. We were patient in the beginning, and when we scored the two goals it gave us a bit of a cover. We controlled the game and had a few chances in the second half. The second half was a bit less, but that’s understandable."
Yann Sommer, Mönchengladbach goalkeeper: "It may sound silly to say, but it's hard to play football against a team like Manchester City. I'm still proud of this team, getting to the Champions League knockout stages shouldn't be written off because of two bad games."
Lars Stindl, Mönchengladbach captain: "This tie was against one of the best teams in the world. We had very little grip and very few chances because City were unbelievably good again. We expected a lot of ourselves and created a few half-chances, but one of them had to go in."
Key stats
• De Bruyne has now scored eight UEFA Champions League goals; five of those have come in the knockout phase.
• Man. City's seventh consecutive clean sheet moves them into second place – level with AC Milan – in the list of most successive clean sheets in the UEFA Champions League. Arsenal hold the record with ten.
• Man. City have won each of their last six UEFA Champions League round of 16 matches.
• City have scored at least two goals in 11 of their last 12 UEFA Champions League home games.
• Mönchengladbach have won just two of their last 11 UEFA Champions League matches.
Line-ups
Man. City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Rúben Dias (Laporte 70), João Cancelo (Zinchenko 63); Bernardo Silva (Agüero 75), Rodri (Fernandinho 63), Gündoğan (Sterling 70); De Bruyne; Mahrez, Foden
Mönchengladbach: Sommer; Lainer, Ginter, Elvedi (Jantschke 88), Bensebaini (Wendt 88); J Hofmann, Neuhaus, Zakaria; Stindl (Traoré 80); Embolo (Wolf 65), Thuram (Pléa 65)
What's next?
The quarter-final and semi-final draws will be streamed live on UEFA.com from midday CET on Friday 19 March. There are no seedings or country protection.