Manchester CIty will have to show another face to consider qualifying. The Citizens were disappointing against Leipzig (1-1) in the first leg of the Champions League knockout game Wednesday night, despite a goal from Riyad Mahrez. While in Milan, Inter suffered with an excellent Andre Onana before emerging victorious in their confrontation with Porto (1-0).
Manchester City's players have once again proven all their strengths and weaknesses. A game with two faces. While the evening had started in the most beautiful way. Even without Kevin De Bruyne, the Citizens quickly put their feet on the ball with a very big pressure. On the other side, Marco Rose adopts a surprising style with a low block. Clearly not at ease in this configuration, Manchester City takes advantage, benefiting from ball losses in the area of Leipzig. This will be quickly sanctioned by Riyad Mahrez who benefits from the work of Gundogan to open the score at the 27th minute. Manchester City dominates but struggles to concretize its opportunities. In this inability to score the second goal, Pep Guardiola and the Citizens will regret it at the end of the second half.
Leipzig shows a very different face in this 8th final first leg of the Champions League. The teammates of Amadou Haïdara, who came back into the game in the 81st minute, are transcending and multiplying the danger in Ederson's goal. In the 70th minute, Josko Gvardiol, the revelation of the last World Cup who is courted by all the big European clubs, delivered the Red Bull Arena with a come back. At the end of the game, Riyad Mahrez had a hard time digesting the result. "When you don't kill the game, you are not safe from an equalizer. We are in the Champions League and Leipzig punished us. They were better in the second half and that hurt us a lot. We have to blame ourselves. After that, there is still a return match in Manchester and we have the arguments to do better and qualify," said the Algerian on the microphone of Canal +.
The "Onana show
The double save of Andre Onana in the 56th minute against Porto is undoubtedly the turning point of the match at San Siro. It has more value especially after the winning goal of Romelu Lukaku (86th). The win (1-0) allows Inter Milan to face the return match in Portugal on March 15 in the best possible conditions. One big certainty is the amn between the sticks, Inter can rely on the former Cameroon international who has been formidable with the Italian side.
