Man City vs Atlético Madrid

Man City vs. Atletico Madrid updates. 20 minutes to kickoff: There's rarely such consternation over a Simeone line-up, even allowing for Cholo's fairly recent switch from his trusty compact 4 ...

50 minutes to kickoff: As is often the case with a Guardiola XI, who plays where is the big question. 1 hour 40 mins to kickoff: It's that time of year again where all eyes will be on whether Pep Guardiola has a tactical brainwave for a major Champions League game. Some of the scrutiny around Guardiola's tactical calls is a little imbalanced. Paramount+ will also stream the match. 1 hour to kickoff: So, are those "stupid tactics" to quote the man himself? The teams are going through their warm-ups amid a steady stream of Manchester drizzle. 5 minutes to kickoff: The atmosphere in here is ramping up nicely as kick-off approaches. The teamsheets are under half an hour away... As Guardiola would say - and this was kind of his very sarcastic point yesterday - we'll only really know once we see how it all shakes out. You know exactly what you’re going to get from Atletico and Simeone’s players are rigorously familiar with what their coach requires. 2nd minute - City have lined up with Cancelo at right-back, Ake and left-back and Stones and Laporte at centre-back. It was 3-2 midway through the first half, which sounds great but my fingers might fall off if anything like that goes down again.

Manchester City host Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. It is only the fourth time Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone ...

50 minutes to kickoff: As is often the case with a Guardiola XI, who plays where is the big question. But there's a lot of ground to cover and Gundogan arduously makes up the yards. He sees the England winger off to concede a corner and again there's no dice for City. Bernardo picks up the pieces and goes down under a Koke challenge. 24th minute: A rare foray for the visitors as Joao Felix gets away down the left. 50th minute: Again Atletico snuff out a City corner and again they have a man extra for a counter-attack. City make a hash of the corner and Griezmann looks like he's away. 76th minute: To circle back around to the pre-match overthink narrative, Guardiola is often criticised for - if anything - underthinking his use of the bench. De Bruyne slides a cute free-kick beyond a momentarily static Atleti backline but Sterling drags wide of the far post left-footed. Yet the way Angel Correa and others provoked Grealish during the closing stages, trying to draw City into their chaos spoke of a tie that is still very much alive. They drove Atletico back over the course of the opening 45 minutes but were unable to register a shot on target before the interval. Correa boots the ball at a prone Grealish right but the touchline.

Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid. UEFA Champions League Quarter Final. 8:00pm, Tuesday 5th April 2022. Etihad Stadium.

Simeone has used these tactics to infuriate Pep Guardiola in the past, knocking Bayern Munich out at the Champions League semifinals six years ago, but ...

Atletico, meanwhile, fell into bad habits, subjecting Grealish to the most rough house of treatment in the closing stages. He did it with a quick dart and a slide rule pass, unleashing Kevin De Bruyne in behind to fizz a shot across Jan Oblak, firing the hosts into the lead in the tie. If they do, they will be lucky to escape with the same score as Tuesday night. If there was a brief moment where it seemed City's neuroses in this competition might get the better of them, it faded into insignificance set against those lengthy spells where it was apparent, Atleti could not just sit back and wait for something to happen. One could sense how tired Atletico were in their flurry of counter attacks early in the first half. The levee was only going to hold for so long. Better to have Bernardo Silva coming to the ball as a true false nine. "It was a very tactical game and each of us tried to impose our own game in this one." There is a tendency to look for higher meaning in such boring fare. He may well need favors from a City side that looked firmly in the groove tonight even if it never hit top gear. La Liga's reigning champions were lucky to escape the Etihad Stadium trailing only to Kevin De Bruyne's 70th minute goal after a game in which they had offered next to nothing beyond the small area in front of their box. In the end it did not.

Hello, and welcome to The Athletic's coverage of tonight's Champions League quarter-finals. Liverpool travel to Benfica in a potentially awkward tie, ...

Jose Maria Gimenez has not travelled to Manchester with the Atletico squad. Jurgen Klopp's side have failed to reach the semi-finals since winning the trophy in 2018-19. Benfica's Rodrigo Pinho and Lucas Verissimo are injured, but Swiss international Haris Seferovic is fit.

Follow all the action as Pep Guardiola's side host Diego Simeone's LaLiga champions in the last eight.

City topped their group in the earlier round, while Atletico were runners-up in theirs. At the weekend they warmed up for the tie with a routine victory over Burnley, while the Spanish side hammered Alaves to make it six straight wins in all competitions. Both Guardiola and opposite number Diego Simeone have faced heartache in the final of this competition with their current clubs, but City remain the favourites to go the distance this time - even if this will be a huge test for the Cityzens in the last eight.

The first legs of the Champions League quarter-finals get underway this week, with Liverpool travelling to face Benfica and Manchester City hosting Atletico ...

City are obviously desperate to win this competition and all things considered, this should be a decent draw for them. This should be routine for Liverpool though, they’ve had a lot of joy in Portugal in the last couple of years and beat Porto 5-1 earlier this season. He told BetVictor : “This should be a good tie for Liverpool. Benfica are a decent side, and that was a brilliant result for them in the last round, knocking out Ajax. They’ve got experience at the back in Vertonghen and Otamendi and striker Darwin Nunez looks a threat.

Diego Simeone was full of praise for Manchester City after seeing his Atletico Madrid side beaten in the Champions League quarter final first leg.

But we were both seeking the same thing, winning." We wanted to defend well, squeeze spaces and hit them on the counterattack. City had all of the possession against the Spanish champions, but struggled to create a clear opening until Phil Foden came off the bench and immediately fed Kevin De Bruyne to give them a 1-0 advantage going into the second leg.

Get a report of the Manchester City vs. Atletico Madrid 2021-22 UEFA Champions League, Quarterfinals football match.

They have scored so many goals at home in the recent past," the Atleti boss said. "We didn't play the way we wanted in the first half, we couldn't break out. "It is not easy to face a team with a lot of experience in this tournament. "We played an incredible top side who are difficult to face but it is a good result," he said, while praising his players for avoiding some of the potential flashpoints in the game. They played with almost five at the back and with five in midfield. If the game is tight they will have to attack a little bit more."

Man City knocked on the door all game long and finally picked Diego Simeone's lock in the second half.

There's a slight tweak here and there with Bernardo coming to the ball as the centre forward where Foden might look to stretch the play in behind. Meanwhile City fans were on hand to welcome their coach to the ground with plenty of blue flares, a far cry from when it was said that this ground struggled to get excited for European nights. A great turn and a pass slid in behind from the latter unlocks De Bruyne and brings the Etihad to its feet. City and Bayern are the favorites because of the players they have, but last season Chelsea won. No shots yet for Atleti, but they are clearly looking to go on the counter. A narrow advantage ahead of the second leg, where Atleti need to show much, much more. On the other side, City will be confident and comfortable. Look, I understand manager Diego Simeone wants to go on the counter and all, but they never came close to scoring. They grew into the match in the second half but came away with nothing to show for it with poor passing when it mattered most as City put one foot into the semifinals. De Bruyne's finish was sublime, and he was the engine in the middle, but this game instantly changed with 22 minutes to go when Foden came on. But it only took Foden two minutes to do just enough to give City the chance they needed. A narrow advantage ahead of the second leg, where Atleti need to show much, much more.

Foden supplied the match-winning assist 80 seconds after coming off the bench - City's Plan B is a luxury that every other club would envy as a Plan A.

There is no worse side in Europe to fall behind against, whether that’s over one leg or two. If City were complicit in that struggle, it was through failing to move the ball quicker through midfield and repeatedly wasting crosses by hitting the first or second man at barely above head height. - Felix – 6 - Mahrez – 6 It also occasionally gets vaguely unpleasant. For most of Tuesday evening, Pep Guardiola pointed and screamed like a frazzled conductor in charge of four different orchestras as Manchester City struggled to break down a comedically defensive Atletico Madrid, albeit one that did flicker on the counter attack after the break.

Man City continued to pressure the Atleti defence early in the second half, with Ilkay Gundogan thwarted at the doorstep right after the break and Jan Oblak called into action to parry away De Bruyne's goal-bound free kick minutes later. Pep Guardiola ...

They have scored so many goals at home in the recent past," the Atleti boss said. "We didn't play the way we wanted in the first half, we couldn't break out. "It is not easy to face a team with a lot of experience in this tournament. "We played an incredible top side who are difficult to face but it is a good result," he said, while praising his players for avoiding some of the potential flashpoints in the game. They played with almost five at the back and with five in midfield. If the game is tight they will have to attack a little bit more."

Phil Foden picked out Kevin De Bruyne who made it 1-0 on the night for Manchester City against Atlético Madrid in their quarter-final first leg.

It is not the time for him to overthink. But, now, came Guardiola’s decisive move: Grealish, Gabriel Jesus and Foden joined the fray and the dividend was reaped. Griezmann’s last act was to be fouled by Silva as Simeone made a triple substitution – Koke and Llorente also departing as Correa, Rodrigo de Paul and Matheus Cunha entered. A delightful Koke backflick that released Félix was another warning from the Spanish champions. After De Bruyne went down in the area with Felipe in close attendance the spot-kick was, again, refused by the referee. This was underlined when, after ceding the ball, a Cancelo cross for Ilkay Gündogan, then a De Bruyne effort, threatened Jan Oblak’s goal.