Erling Haaland ‘s first half penalty miss proved insignificant as Manchester City ousted Bayern Munich from the Champions League after securing a 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena.
The Norwegian blazed his spot kick over Yann Sommer’s crossbar towards the end of the first half, but made amendments not long into the second with his 48th goal of the season in all competitions.
That put City in complete cruise control, 4-0 up on aggregate, but they couldn’t see out the game after another dubious penalty call – City’s first half award was just as contentious – allowed Joshua Kimmich to level things up.
Thomas Tuchel made two changes from the side beaten 3-0 at the Etihad. Joao Cancelo came in to face his parent club from the start and there was a place up front for Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting; Alphonso Davies and Serge Gnabry the two players to drop to the bench.
Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, went with the same side that decimated Bayern just a week ago, with John Stones again lining up alongside Rodri in a defensive midfield role as the Spaniard continued to implement his latest 3-2-4-1 creation.
Bayern were the team quickest out of the traps, knowing the impetus was on them to take the game to City and make things happen. They stroked the ball around confidently in the first 15 minutes and fashioned a superb chance for Leroy Sane just past the quarter-hour mark.
But after streaking away from Stones with blistering pace, Sane could only slide his effort past Ederson’s far post when it looked far easier for the German to score.
Haaland makes amends as Man City lead in Munich 💥
Erling Haaland nets his twelfth Champions League goal this season as his earlier penalty miss is all but forgotten!#UCL pic.twitter.com/RUmB51wz7f
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 19, 2023
A minute later, Dayot Upamecano was shown a straight red card by French referee Clement Turpin, only to be handed an immediate reprieve as the assistant referee’s flag was raised – Haaland having set off for his run through on goal a split-second too soon.
More home pressure followed without any chances of note being created, before City were awarded the first controversial penalty of the night. By the letter of the law Upamecano had handled Ilkay Gundogan’s shot with his arm in an unnatural position – but it was the faintest of deflections that saw the Bayern defender penalised.
Inexplicably, Haaland smashed his penalty over the crossbar, marking the first time in two years that he’d missed from 12 yards and his first spot kick failure for City.
City’s goal machine didn’t need long to put that disappointment behind him, capitalising on an Upamecano slip to finish off a lightning fast counter-attack that saw Kevin De Bruyne bag yet anothe assist.
Bayern forced Ederson into a number of good saves, but the Brazilian wasn’t put under a barrage of pressure despite the need for a glut of goals. Eventually he was beaten by Kimmich’s penalty, awarded after Manuel Akanji was penalised for a point-blank range handball.
City face Real Madrid in the semi-finals next, pitting Guardiola against Champions League specialist Carlo Ancelotti once more.
GK: Yann Sommer – 6/10 – Didn’t really have much to do in Bayern’s goal apart from picking the ball out of his net.
RB: Benjamin Pavard – 6/10 – Not able to affect the game in the final third the way Bayern needed him to.
CB: Dayot Upamecano – 4/10 – Another disaster night for the Frenchman, first conceding a penalty for handball before slipping over to allow Haaland a free run at Sommer.
CB: Matthijs de Ligt – 6/10 – Pretty cool and composed on the ball but the tie was lost after the first leg.
LB: Joao Cancelo – 6/10 – Crunched Bernardo Silva’s foot early doors in a funny teammate on former teammate moment. Showed nice skill on occasion.
DM: Joshua Kimmich – 8/10 – Everywhere in midfield for Bayern and dispatched his penalty with predictable efficiency.
DM: Leon Goretzka – 6/10 – Full of running in central midfield but to no real avail in the end.
RM: Kingsley Coman – 8/10 – Looked capable of making things happen every time he got the ball. Easy to see why Coman has had such a good statistical season with performances like this.
AM: Jamal Musiala – 7/10 – Perfectly weighted his passes throughout and was a genuine threat. Oozes class for such a young player.
LM: Leroy Sane – 6/10 – Things might have been so different had Sane buried his first half opportunity. He didn’t and the comeback failed to materialise.
CF: Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting – 6/10 – Offered Bayern more of a focal point but up front but didn’t ever get a clear-cut opportunity in front of goal.
Substitutes
SUB: Alphonso Davies (63′ for Cancelo) – 7/10 – The tie was completely over by the time Davies entered the picture. Did well.
SUB: Sadio Mane (63′ for Sane) – 6/10 – Not pulling up any trees in Munich, is he? Nice comedic value touch from Tuchel to bring him on for Sane.
SUB: Mathys Tel (72′ for Choupo-Moting) – N/A
SUB: Thomas Muller (72′ for Musiala) – N/A
SUB: Josep Stanisic (77′ for Pavard) – N/A
Subs not used: Ulreich (GK), Sarr, Mazraoui, Blind, Gravenberch, Gnabry, Ibrahimovic
Manager
Thomas Tuchel – 6/10 – Was spitting feathers on the touchline for most of the night, apoplectic about refereeing decisions that went against his side. Sent off late on and probably irked by Sane’s early miss.
GK: Ederson – 8/10 – Didn’t have to make any blindingly outstanding saves but did have to be alert on a number of occasions. Good outing.
CB: Manuel Akanji – 6/10 – Coped well against the blistering pace of both Coman and Sane.
CB: Ruben Dias – 8/10 – A big performance from one of City’s best players on a night when he needed to be strong.
CB: Nathan Ake – 6/10 – Huge concern for City’s title bid late on as Ake went off with an apparent hamstring pull.
DM: John Stones – 7/10 – Flipped between playing in defensive midfield and as centre-back with supreme ease.
DM: Rodri – 7/10 – Not put under tremendous amounts of pressure. A solid enough showing from the Spaniard.
RM: Bernardo Silva – 7/10 – Has such wonderful feet in tight areas. A real joy to watch at times.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 6/10 – Got a bit scrappy with international teammate Kimmich at the end of the first half – the kind of stuff supporters love to see.
CM: Kevin De Bruyne – 7/10 – Another assist for the Belgian on a terrific night for City.
LM: Jack Grealish – 8/10 – After a season of finding his feet in City colours, Grealish now looks like the real deal in every game he plays.
ST: Erling Haaland – 7/10 – Inexplicably missed his penalty but righted that wrong within 20 minutes. Obviously.
Substitutes
SUB: Aymeric Laporte (67′ for Ake) – 6/10 – Picked up a late booking for a rash tackle and was caught a little narrow at times.
SUB: Julian Alvarez (84′ for Haaland) – N/A
SUB: Kyle Walker (88′ for De Bruyne) – N/A
Subs not used: Ortega (GK), Carson (GK), Lewis, Gomez, Phillips, Perrone, Foden, Palmer, Mahrez
Manager
Pep Guardiola – 7/10 – Didn’t complicate matters by changing a winning formula and it paid dividends. Will be interesting to see how the Spaniard looks to combat Real Madrid.
Player of the Match: Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
Credit: 90min.com
