The toss or tails of the season arrives and the European champion seems in perfect condition. Since winning the Club World Cup on Christmas Eve, Manchester City has played six Premier games, two Cup games and this return to the Champions League. He has won them all and along the way he has managed to reactivate Kevin de Bruyne, scorer of the goal that opened the way to victory (1-3) at the Parken in Copenhagen. They have done it against a rival that surprised in the group stage by leaving behind, among others, Manchester United, but very inferior to the team coached by Pep Guardiola, which was the usual one, the one that subdues the rival and forces them to play in his field and travel kilometers in search of the ball.
1
Kamil Grabara, Kevin Diks, Scott McKenna, Vavro, Elias Jelert, Diogo Gonçalves (Oscar Højlund, min. 70), Jensen, Magnus Mattsson, Elias Achouri, Mohammed Elyounoussi y Claesson (Cornelius, min. 54)
3
Ederson Moraes, Rúben Dias, Walker, John Stones, Aké, Bernardo Silva (Matheus, min. 78), Foden, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Grealish (Jeremy Doku, min. 21) and Erling Braut Haaland
Goals 0-1 min. 10: De Bruyne. 1-1 min. 33: Magnus Mattsson. 1-2 min. 45: Bernardo Silva. 1-3 min. 92: The foot.
Referee José María Sánchez Martínez
Yellow cards Jensen (min. 71) y Kevin Diks (min. 73)
The monologue had a brief pause of ten minutes because just after half an hour the unexpected happened: Copenhagen found a goal without having to step into their rival’s area. It was granted to them by goalkeeper Ederson, who mishandled his left foot and enabled the Danish forward. Mattsson did not forgive and City seemed to be trapped in a stupor for a few moments. He had won since an overwhelming start to the match was signed by De Bruyne after a connection between Ruben Dias and Foden. The Portuguese central defender dismantled the local block with a diagonal movement that activated the talent of his playmakers.
Everything was in place before the break. De Bruyne persisted with a divided ball at the top of the area and the rebound fell in the heart of the area to Bernardo Silva, who he defined lightly. The champion returned from the break on autopilot, focused on controlling the game through the ball and caged Copenhagen with it, which after Ederson’s gift was unable to shoot for goal again, ending up exhausted after so much pursue and virtually sentenced after a final goal from Foden. City did not even require Haaland to go beyond a couple of exuberant feints and another couple of late fiascos in the shot: without the brilliance of the Norwegian striker, his team was much superior.