By Samuel A. April 21, 2023
Manchester City were drawn against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal draws, which took place in Nyon, Switzerland on the 17th of March. The tie seemed to be the tightest and most even tie, considering the quality both teams possess, their collectiveness, teamwork and excellent style of play. Manchester City reigned supreme in the end with a 4-1 victory on aggregate.
Having taken control of the quarterfinal tie with a 3-0 win at the Etihad, Man City clinched a 1-1 draw in Munich to book their place in the semis for the third time in a row, and fifth time in their history. Despite being the most dominant force in English football over the past decade, Manchester City are still searching for their first ever Champions League win.
After a 3-0 loss in Manchester, Bayern were desperate for an early goal to spark hope of a comeback on Wednesday night, when Leroy Sane missed a golden chance in the 16th minute by trying to chip Ederson cleverly, and slightly missing the goal frame. Dayot Upamecano is one player, who’d never forget the turnout of this tie, as he struggled in the first leg and had another eventful evening at the Allianz Arena. He was quite lucky to have seen the linesman flag for offside after he pulled back Erling Haaland and was briefly sent off. The Bayern Munich defender then gave away a harsh penalty for handball, but was counting his lucky stars for yet the second time as Haaland gave in to pressure and antics by Bayern players and skied over the bar. The hosts created a number of openings in the first half but Ederson denied Sane and Kingsley Coman with routine saves before another Coman strike was blocked by some last ditch Man City defending. The French winger went close again after halftime, before Haaland broke the deadlock, after something that looked like an Upamecano miscalculation and left Bayern Munich with a mountain to climb. As has been the case this season more often than not, Kevin de Bruyne found the Norwegian who benefited from an Upamecano slip to rifle past Yann Sommer. Bayern Munich were denied an equaliser on 75 minutes due to an offside, but managed to get on the scoresheet late on as captain Joshua Kimmich scored a penalty from another controversial handball by Akanji. Thomas Tuchel let frustrations get the better of him before the final whistle as the former Chelsea boss was sent to the stands for a second yellow after berating the officials.
Asked about a semifinal clash with Real Madrid, Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva said: ‘We will go for it, definitely. We always go for it but we feel the team is very, very confident at the moment. I think we are going through.’ Real Madrid trashed Chelsea 4-0 on aggregate to get a place in the semis.
In the other Champions League quarterfinal at the San Siro, Inter Milan set up a semi-final with arch-rivals AC Milan, who managed to leapfrog runaway league leaders, Napoli.
Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries said: ‘This is an amazing feeling. It has been amazing what we have done until now. Now we will face AC Milan in the semi-finals which will be a special match. We’re looking forward to it. We said this already at the start of the season, we can win the Champions League. This is our goal. Of course, the target is to win the Champions League.’
