was a record-breaking night for Manchester City on Wednesday as they brushed Copenhagen aside to progress into the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Blues became the first English side to win 10 games in a row in the Champions League, and the first side in major European competition history to score three or more goals in nine consecutive home games. Erling Haaland equalled Sergio Aguero’s 41 goals in Europe, while the win was City’s 12th in a row in Europe at the Etihad, as part of a wider run of 30 unbeaten (W28 D2). Only Barcelona have gone longer without defeat at home in the Champions League, when they went 38 games between 2013 and 2020 unbeaten at the Nou Camp.
On a positive night all round, we have picked out the talking points from City’s latest Champions League win – ahead of the Premier League trip to Liverpool on Sunday:
Pep Guardiola insisted after the game that Sunday’s showdown at Anfield had absolutely no bearing on his team selection against Copenhagen. ‘We are exhausted’, he said, adding that Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden reported they felt ‘too tired’ to start on Wednesday after their derby heroics. However, both wanted to play and the plan was for the pair to come off the bench in the second half if needed. They were both were seen warming up throughout the second half and are not thought to be doubtful for the Liverpool clash.
In total, Guardiola made seven changes from the United game – resting Bernardo, Foden, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Kyle Walker, and Kevin De Bruyne – while Jeremy Doku missed out through injury. After establishing a 6-2 aggregate lead, Rodri sat out the second half, and Ruben Dias (one yellow card away from suspension) was withdrawn with time to spare. Erling Haaland stayed on longer than most would have expected, but was replaced in the closing stages.
With Ederson expected to start against Liverpool, it’s conceivable that the six rested players and three substituted players, will all be on the teamsheet at Anfield. That leaves one more place to decide in attack with Julian Alvarez an option after his goal and assist on Wednesday.
Alvarez’s new position
What was striking against Copenhagen was that among all the changes, there were also some new positions. Rico Lewis is often asked to invert into defensive midfield, but here he was replicating Walker’s role bombing up the right. That allowed Matheus Nunes to exploit the space inside the channels on the right, with Oscar Bobb doing the same on the left – possibly due to Alvarez hugging the touchline on the left.
Alvarez arrived at City as an option on the right wing, but has played almost exclusively at number nine or 10. He was a left midfielder here and after eight minutes had a goal and an assist. It might be enough to earn a recall to the Premier League starting line up at Liverpool.
Bobb takes his chance
Asked to be City’s creative link between midfield and Haaland, Bobb thoroughly enjoyed himself in the first half against Copenhagen. He was a constant threat, and earned praise from Guardiola post-match. The manager added that Bobb faded a little in the second half, and that he would be far better for the experience. As City look to game-changers off the bench or in rotation games, Bobb is showing again that he is capable of showing his quality and making a difference in attack.
Pep notices mentality shift
After guiding City into the Champions League last-eight for the seventh year in succession, Guardiona praised the club’s changed mentality from when he arrived. “When we arrived from a club like Barcelona and and Bayern Munich what they demand is to always be there and I felt the club, not the players, didn’t feel it,” he said, recalling painful defeats as a necessary part of the journey.
“We are here because we need time and people, managers don’t get time. Hierarchies don’t get time. But they gave us time to lose against Monaco, lose against Liverpool, lose against Tottenham all the process to do it because when a team comes from never ever being in that position, you cannot do it. It is easy for clubs that have big history – start with the best ones Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich or Man United have been used to it.”
