The whole of Etihad stadium was thrown into jubilation mood on Tuesday night after Manchester City qualified for the Champions League final for the first time in the club's history in a tensed atmosphere that produced one red card.
The Champions-designate of the English Premier League achieved this feat courtesy of a 2-0 win over Paris Saint Germain on the night, winning the tie 4-1 on aggregate, having gone to Paris to beat the capital club 1-2 last week.
Pep Guardiola before the game mentioned that the champagne for the English title was already in the fridge. He may as well take a sip of triumph from this already.
It was a cold and windy night in Manchester as heavy downpour characterized the field in the opening stages.
The encounter was predicted to be one with drama all round and it did no fail to live up to the expectations as early as the 7th minute with PSG starting on the front foot, knowing they had a lot of work to do if they were to beat a resilient Pep Guardiola side.
A Neymar cross from the left side was cleared in the box by Oleksandr Zinchenko and the shout by the PSG players prompted the referee to point to the spot, giving the visitors a lifeline early on in the game. The decision was, however, overturned after consultation with VAR as the ball came off Zinchenko's shoulder.
In a quick fire response, Man City tok the lead four minutes later. A trademark Ederson Moraes long range passing found the advanced Zinchenko who did well to cut the ball back to Kevin De Bruyne on the edge of the PSG box. The Belgian's shot came off Marquinhos and fell onto the path of the on-rushing Riyad Mahrez who slotted home at the far post on his weaker right foot. Advantage City.
PSG responded instantly, albeit, unable to produce a goal. In the 17th minute, an Angel Di Maria cross was met by Marquinhos, who rose highest at the far post but his header would come off the top of the crossbar. What a missed opportunity.
Two minutes later as City were trying to hit on the counter, Ederson threw the ball to Bernando Silva but the Portuguese was caught napping just close to his own goal by Di Maria, who stole the ball off him. With Ederson still off his line, Di Maria hit the ball one time but could only manage to drag his effort inches wide. A glorious gift wasted.
PSG saw more of the ball knowing the task ahead of them but struggled to create goalscoring chances.
Both teams spurned half chances with De Bruyne taking his effort from the edge of the box over the bar in the 30th minute. Herrera also blazed over the bar from close range in the 36th minute after receiving a cut back from Neymar, before Riyad Mahrez was denied at the near post by Keylor Navas on the stroke of halftime.
City resumed after the interval as theybended the first half, with Phil Foden, who was magnificent on the night, first denied by the offside flag and required a strong hand from Navas to pull a save.
Mauricio Pochettino's side needed about 15 minutes after the interval to find their feet. The only meaningful chance fell to Herrera in the 61st minute and again, he couldn't find the net.
The former Spurs' manager who was missing Kylian Mbappe through injury on the night, made a double swap in the 62nd minute, replacing Mauro Icardi, who was hardly in the game with Moise Kean and Julian Draxler replaced Ander Herrera. Thi change had little or no effect. It was obvious Mbappe's void was enormous.
That substitution was the tonic City needed as they hit on the counter to kill off any hope of a comeback for their visitors.
De Bruyne played a neat ball through to Zinchenko on the left and the Ukrainian got the ball across goal in search of Mahrez whose run at the far post was not tracked by any PSG player, allowing him power home his second of the night. Poor defensive play from the French giants.
Matters got worse for PSG as Di Maria was shown a red card for stamping on Fernandinho in an off-the-ball incident after the Brazilian got in front of him to prevent him from getting the ball. Tempers were risen at this point as a crazy five minutes saw Marco Veratti, Zinchenko and De Bruyne all get yellow carded.
The aftermath of the game saw PSG players accuse the referee of using the f*** word on them following the barrages of protest that followed Di Maria's sending off, an accusation that UEFA may have to investigate.
It was all City thereon with Foden at the heart of it, hitting the bar and forcing Navas into hard work. It was difficult to pick the man of the match between him and Mahrez.
City became the first English team to win seven consecutive games in a European competition after Manchester United, Leeds United and Arsenal. It is also the first Champions League final under the reign of Guardiola as well as the first in their history.
They will wait to know who their opponent would be between Chelsea and Real Madrid who both lock horns tonight with the game tied 1-1 on aggregate.
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