UEFA Champions League: Manchester City Remain Dominant & Liverpool Lose Faith

Phil Foden outshone the opposition with a late winner for Manchester City. England’s finest walked away with a 2-1 victory in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

Pep Guardiola has struggled to take his Manchester City squad beyond the last eight in Champions League history. Simultaneously, in control of Manchester’s blue pride and their clash with Borussia, Dortmund was close to producing another underwhelming result. When Marco Reus planted an equalizing goal with just six minutes remaining, Kevin De Bruyne’s first-half scorcher became seemingly pointless.

However, Phil Foden, who was replacing Raheem Sterling, would not sit back and allow City’s misery to continue as he scored a crucial goal in the 90th minute.

Dortmund did not enter this clash lightly, confidently pressing Pep’s squad with complete disregard to their quality. Jude Bellingham saw a controversial decision against him for a weak foul on Ederson when the goalkeeper rolled on a pass-back.

Although Dortmund owns the overpowering presence of Erling Haaland up front, they have fallen off track in their Bundesliga domestic campaign and entered this week’s UCL clash seven points adrift of league leaders Bayern Munich.

But if Manchester City wants to achieve the unthinkable quadruple, they need to keep Kevin De Bruyne as the heart of their squad. He is playing the best football of his career right now and played a crucial role in both of Manchester’s goals against Dortmund. His opener proved how dangerous he is, taking a striker’s role when necessary, and then Foden’s goal came from a spectacular pass to Gundogan near the back post.

De Bruyne is an exceptional talent, but Foden and Bellingham came close to that ‘man of the match’ highlight. English football will evolve because of those two.

Pep Guardiola told the press: “In the first half, we were not clever with the ball, but the second half was much better, and at 1-0 we had two or three clear chances. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, but after we conceded, we got the goal.

“To play good in the areas we want to, we need to make good build-up and today was not good: Joao Cancelo and Rodri were not clever to receive the ball in positions for the other ones, but it’s difficult always to do what we want to do because they have quality. But it’s a good result, and we have another chance in one week.

“We’re going to adjust a few things to go there and try to win the game.

“Foden was a threat in the second half. He was a real threat, arriving in the final third. He had two, three chances and finally scored.”

Manchester City remains dominant in all competitions this term, their odds-on favourites for all cups, titles, and championships they’re involved in – and wagers are eager to place their bets

Liverpool & Jurgen Klopp’s Faith is Taking a Huge Hit

Real Madrid has taken heaps of slack in the press, being presented as a team lacking energy, youth, and a side who will struggle to keep up with Liverpool should ‘The Reds’ find their stride on the pitch. So, in true Klopp fashion, he underestimated the presence of Thiago – a midfielder who is evidently born for the big stage – and decided to start Keita, thinking this would be Liverpool’s edge over the opposition.

“I could not ignore his performances in training,” the Liverpool manager said.

Funnily enough, nobody could ignore the abysmal first forty-four minutes, including Klopp, who was left with no choice but to field Thiago and hope for a change on the field.

By this time, Liverpool was 2-0 down to the Spanish giants and began to reek of desperation in hopes to soften the two-goal gap.

Real Madrid looked the opposite of what critics expected, and Zidane proved that his tactical skillset is one of the most underrated in the competition. He found a way to efficiently expose Liverpool’s weakness by simply lobbing the passes over their high backline. Both first-half goals were a result of this.

Five minutes into the second half and the away goal finally landed, Liverpool began to pick up the pace pointing the fingers towards the tactical midfield change just before the break. Jota was the man to score, and he could have equalized the game around the 60-minute mark. But now, the contest was becoming a slugfest in an exchange of possession in an end-to-end battle.

Klopp struggles to deter his bad habits, therefore leading his squad to concede a third goal, making the reverse fixture an extra-long battle in the second leg.

Liverpool will need to perform as they have done in previous UCL tournaments, an Anfield comeback of spectacular fashion will be required, but history does not always repeat itself.