In the early morning of April 14, the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals ended, and Manchester City drew 0-0 away to Madrid to advance, and the aggregate score was 1-0 to successfully advance to the semi-finals. Compared with the score, the content of this game can be described as unusually rich. Facing the imposing Atletico, Guardiola's side withstood the pressure and finally waited until spring blossomed.
Last weekend's battle with Liverpool on King Hill, in which City was finally drawn 2-2 with Liverpool after leading twice, is not unacceptable, but the physical exertion of Manchester City players in the game is huge. Although Atletico also played in the league last weekend, several main players either came off the field early or on the bench, plus this time it was a home game, so the impact on physical fitness was much smaller than Manchester City.
In the opening 12 minutes, Felipe elbowed Foden in the back of the head in the middle of the scramble, leaving the latter bloodied, but such a bad foul did not receive a yellow card. After 12 minutes, Felipe brought down De Bruyne again, and this time the referee finally awarded him a yellow jewel card. In other words, if it were a tough referee, Atletico would have been sent off in the opening 24 minutes to shatter his dream of qualifying early.
Despite being so aggressive from the start, it wasn't until the 35th minute that Atletico had their first shot of two legs on goal, and Condobia's long-range shot was easily parried away by Ederson. In the 44th minute, Savage pushed Foden in a small defensive action, and the two had a verbal altercation. In the first half, the two sides drew 0-0.
In the second half, Atletico were still making a lot of moves, while Manchester City was significantly physically weak, and Griezmann completed two extremely threatening shots in 10 minutes. Guardiola, who saw the situation, quickly made adjustments, replacing the midfielder De Bruyne with Sterling, hoping to strengthen the speed and counterattack of the front. Five minutes later, Kyle Walker was also injured in a breakout and Akpi was on the line.
After Guardiola put on a defensive counter-attack posture, Simeone waved the flag, Carrasco, De Paul and Angel Correazi were put on the pitch, and Atletico set up a broken posture to strengthen the attack. Since then, De Paul, Correa and Cunha have all had excellent scoring opportunities but have not been able to seize them. In the 89th minute of the game, Atletico self-destructed the Great Wall, Felipe put Down Foden in the defense and had an additional kicking action, causing a large-scale clash between the two sides, resulting in Felipe getting two yellows and one red. Although Atletico, who played one less man, continued to attack desperately, and Manchester City paid the price of 3 yellow cards for Mahrez, Foden and Cancelo, city finally laughed to the end as Carrasco's free-kick shot was deflected by Ederson.
In this campaign, Atletico 4 yellow 1 red, Manchester City also ate 5 yellow cards, the whole game, Atletico 13 shots 3 positive, Manchester City 10 shots only 1 positive. But in the end, with a tenacious will, the Blue Moon Army tried to save the goal. And it is providence to let atletico out of the rough action as iron blood.
From the opening elbow strike to Foden causing the latter to break his head and bleed, to kicking de Bruyne yellow in the back, to eating a second yellow card in the 89th minute and being sent off, Felipe's red card came a little late, but it did not escape. In fact, during that time, Atletico Madrid has formed an offensive momentum, and Manchester City can only withdraw from the defense with all its strength, and the collapse of the defensive line may be in a single thought. But Felipe's stupid foul brought their own attack to an abrupt halt, and then they faced Manchester City's unanimous will and basically broke the dream of turning the tables.
After the game, UEFA's comments hit the nail on the head, and in their opinion, if Atletico had played more boldly, maybe they would have won the game. But Simeone's side didn't start attacking until De Bruyne came off the pitch, but there was not much time left for them. At the end of the day, while Simeone is known for his iron blood, the two-legged game, whether it's a 5-5-0 formation or a highly targeted rough foul on Foden and De Bruyne, can't hide the fear of City's attacking ability in the boss and his players. And the end result is to lose and lose.