Yannick Carrasco served his last of 3 days of suspension with Atletico and so we didn’t get a duel with Kevin De Bruyne at the Etihad Stadium. City dominated the first half with almost 75 percent of the ball, but the home team couldn’t get a single great chance of scoring. At Atletico, defense was the code word, the visitors were nothing offensive at all.
It went from one-way traffic without a concrete target danger to a promising start to the second half. A shot from Gundogan was just deflected by Savic, after which Sterling was a toe-length short to aim the ball at goal.
There was also a little more fire at Atletico for a while, but both Griezmann and Llorente played the counters badly. The danger kept coming from City. Oblak kept Atletico afloat on a free kick from De Bruyne and Laporte missed a big header on a corner.
Twenty minutes before the end Pep Guardiola intervened with a triple substitution. Foden was one of them and he was on the field for less than a minute when he launched De Bruyne with a wonderful through pass. From a sharp angle he gave Oblak the check: 1-0.
The spell was finally broken for City, the Madrid wall torn down. There was no response from Atletico and so City will descend to the Wanda Metropolitano next Wednesday with a frugal lead.
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