- Manchester City knocked out Sporting CP in the Champions League last-16 with a 5-0 aggregate despite a 0-0 draw in the second leg
- The huge 5-0 win of the first leg proved enough for Man City heading into the second leg at Etihad
- It was a match that academy products got a test of the Champions League and veteran goalkeeper Scott Carson given few minutes
Manchester City eased through to the Champions League quarter-finals as Wednesday’s second leg against Sporting CP proved entirely academic, a 0-0 draw sealing a 5-0 aggregate win.
Armed with their huge lead from the first leg in Portugal, City barely got out of first gear and nor did they need to.
Gabriel Jesus had a goal disallowed for a tight offside, and Riyad Mahrez saw a shot blocked as City went close to a late winner.
Even Scott Carson, the rarely seen reserve goalkeeper, got a run-out for the last 17 minutes, pulling off a fine save to deny Paulinho and taking a whack for his efforts.
Veteran reserve goalkeeper for Manchester City Scott Carson replaced Moraes Ederson in the second half in the Champions League clash with Sporting CP at Etihad. | PHOTO: Getty Images |
Last season’s runners-up are favourites with many to carry off the trophy this year and this was as much of a formality as Champions League knockout games come.
Sensibly, Pep Guardiola gave a rest to derby-day destroyers Kevin De Bruyne, on a yellow card, and Mahrez, benching both. This was no night for risk-taking, but still, it was unlike City for it to reach the 24th minute before they registered the first shot at goal, Phil Foden’s drive from 20 yards tipped behind by Antonio Adan.
Raheem Sterling was thwarted when he looked to dink over the goalkeeper after Foden’s sharp pass found his England colleague, as City, who led 4-0 at half-time in the first leg, drew a blank in this opening 45 minutes.
Teenager CJ Egan-Riley was tidy at right-back on his Champions League debut, while Oleksandr Zinchenko featured on the opposite flank and was given a huge pre-match roar, the crowd firmly behind the Ukrainian amid the unfolding dire events in his homeland.
Wizardry from substitute Mahrez created an opening from Jesus to strike from a tight angle to the left of the goal in the 47th minute. Cue joyful celebrations, but a VAR check showed the Brazilian was a shade offside.
In 2008-09, the only previous season during the Champions League era when Sporting reached the knockout rounds, they lost 5-0 at home to Bayern before being suffering a 7-1 beating in Munich.
They were at least spared such humiliation this time, with City going through the motions rather than for the jugular. Sporting’s first shot came in the 57th minute, with Ederson gathering Bruno Tabata’s attempt with no trouble.
Manchester City players congratulating each other after the Champions League clash against Sporting CP. | PHOTO: Getty Images |
Chances came and went as Sporting bowed out, John Stones heading over perhaps the best in stoppage time, while Sterling lashed wide with the last kick.
The Etihad Stadium was packed out for this one, most hoping for another landslide. Sporting brought vibrant support, despite their desperate position, and the chirping of two noisy sets of fans was more entertaining than much of the early fare on the field.
Yet these are nights City should savour. Pressure is rarely off in the Champions League knockout rounds. Let others have the drama: Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain had plenty of it, while Guardiola’s blue machine kept quietly rolling. A calm night but a good night this, for City, however, you look at it.
Egan-Riley was thrown in at the deep end and proved a competent adversary to Sporting’s left-sided threat, winning four of five duels and completing 58 of 60 passes. His inclusion was an endorsement from Guardiola of his qualities, as the Spaniard could have used Fernandinho in central defence and shuffled Stones out to the right.
The homegrown youngster was only the seventh teenager to feature for City in the Champions League, with Guardiola having given each of them their chance. James McAtee then became the eighth, replacing Foden, and Luke Mbete was the ninth in the closing moments. At the other end of the scale, home skipper Fernandinho made his 100th Champions League appearance at the age of 36 years and 309 days.
A five-goal first-leg deficit had never been overturned in the Champions League, with Barcelona holding the record for the biggest comeback when they came from 4-0 behind against Paris Saint-Germain on March 8, 2017.
Five years and one day on, there was nothing to suggest this would be the day for the ultimate fightback, with Sporting having failed to win any of their last seven away games against English opposition, since a 3-2 win at Middlesbrough in the last 16 of the 2004-05 UEFA Cup.
City are not back on duty until they face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday evening, in the Premier League. Sporting also must wait until Monday for their next game, a Primera Liga battle with Moreirense.
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