Barney Ronay on Phil Foden and a night to remember
Pep speaks!
Match report: Atletico Madrid 0-0 Man City (agg: 0-1)
Champions League: City advanced to the semi-finals despite being outplayed in the second half of a largely turgid encounter that was hugely enhanced by a mass brawl and flurry of cards on 90 minutes. David Hytner reports from the Wanda Metropolitano ...
Pep Guardiola speaks ...
The Manchester City refuses point-blank to be drawn on the brawl around the 90-minute mark and deflects BT Sport’s questions about Atletico possibly targetting Phil Foden.
Of the game itself, he had this to say. “They’re the champions of Spain and an unbelievable crowd and energy. And the second half they were better than us. The first-half we had the chances to do it but overall we are in the semi-finals. It’s well deserved over the two games.
On his casualties: “We are in big trouble [with injuries],” he says. “We can’t forget that we played three days ago. To play Liverpool, travel, come here. I don’t know what will happen in the next few weeks. Today we will celebrate because it’s only the third time City have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.”
Anatomy of a brawl
- 1) Felipe slides in to dispossess Foden, (possibly deliberately) mistiming his tackle completely.
- 2) He throws a little kick Foden’s way as a little bonus.
- 3) Having been kicked off the pitch, Foden rolls back on to it in order to scream in agony so the ref will have to stop play and allow the physio on.
- 4) Stefan Savic steams in and tries to drag Foden to his feet.
- 5) Assorted plasyers, substitutes and backroom staff get involved prompting mass handbags.
- 6) Savic gets all up in Raheem Sterling’s grill, butting him slightly.
- 7) Jack Grealish, an unuused substitute, calls Savic the c-word.
- 8) Savic pulls Grealish’s hair.
- 9) Felipe gets sent off and goes absolutely ballistic.
- 10) Felipe is dragged away towards the tunnel by a member of Atletico’s backroom staff.
- 11) Savic is booked.
- 12) Nathan Ake is booked and I think that about covers it.
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Confirmation: Stefan Savic pulled Jack Grealish’s hair. Ha!
Well. That was a tremendously fun ending to an otherwise fairly turgid encounter. Atletico Madird completely lost their heads but almost managed to nick an equaliser at the end. We’ve had 11 yellow cards shown in total, with seven of them (and a red) being brandished by Daniel Siebert after the 90th minute.
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BT Sport report: Commentator Darren Fletcher is reporting a tunnel bust-up between Stefan Savic and Jack Grealish. He believes several members of the local constabulary may be involved.
Full time: Atletico Madrid 0-0 Manchester City (agg: 0-1)
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeeeeep! It’s all over at the Wanda Metropolitano, where Manchester City have advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Their players celebrate with a big group hug before going to applaud their fans.
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90+12 min: Ake does well to hook a dropping ball aweay from Suarez in the City penalty area and then Ederson saves from Correa. Wow!
90+9 min: The ball is whipped in towards the City goal but Ederson punches clear and goes down hurt. He’ll live. On the touchline, Simeone is applauding the Atletico fans.
He pauses to march on to the pitch and give his own player, Stefan Savic a massive bollocking, furiously telling him to calm down and get on with the game. Again, I cannot stress enough how much fun this is. Phil Foden is paroxysms of mirth laughing at Simeone ... who also gets booked.
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90+8 min: Joao Cancelo gets booked for a mistimed tackle right on the left-hand side of the City penalty area. Free-kick for Atletico in a very dangerous area.
90+7 min: Phil Foden gets a yellow card to go with his blue bandage.
90+7 min: Sterling plays in Gundogan, who looks certain to score but Oblak gets down to save brilliantly.
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90+6 min: Yes, six ... of nine recommended minutes of added time.
90+3 min: I think Cunha’s just been booked for a foul on Fernandinho but can’t be certain. And what’s this? Now Riyad Mahrez goes in the book for time-wasting.
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90 min: Felipe has completely lost the plot after being sent off and has to be dragged away by one of Atletico’s backroom staff. He storms off down the tunnel with a massive funk on. This is tremendous fun.
89 min: Phil Foden is tackled by Felipe and goes down hurt on the touchline. Stefan Savic sprints over to try to drag him to his feet. A mass melee ensues involving several players and backroom staff from both teams.
Savic appears to have stuck the nut on somebody but gets away with a yellow card. Nathan Ake gets booked as well, while Felipe gets a second yellow for the original foul on Phil Foden. These are the kind of scenes we all love to see but are obliged to pretend we don’t.
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87 min: John Stones blocks brilliantly from a Cunha shot after the player had picked up a Correa knockdown. It was Atletico’s best chance of the game so far.
86 min: Going back to that Correa penalty appeal - I can’t believe it wasn’t given. Rodri had a fistful of the players shirt and was pulling him back, while Joao Cancelo brought him down. Video assistant referee Marco Fritz might have been asleep at his post.
84 min: City are laying siege to the Atletico penalty area, which is not an area of the pitch the hosts want to be penned into as the clock ticks down.
81 min: A Mahrez free-kick is curled into the Atletico penalty area and cleared. Atletico double-substitution: Luis Suarez and Matheus Cunha on for Thomas Lemar and Joao Felix.
79 min: Manchester City substitution: Fernadinho on for Bernardo Silva.
77 min: Correa goes down in the City penalty area and appeals for a penalty while the ball pings towards Carrasco on the left side of the area. No spot-kick is forthcoming, despite Correa appearing to have been fouled by both Joao Cancelo, who tripped him and Rodri, who had a good handful of his shirt. A let-off for City.
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75 min: Angel Correa gives Sterling the slip and plays the ball wide to Carrasco. His cross is blocked, then Reinildo sends in another that is cleared by Stones.
73 min: Kyle Walker goes to ground again and signals to the bench that he is unable to continue, prompting more whistles and jeers from the crowd. He’s replaced by Nathan Ake. He goes in at left-back, with Joao Cancelo moving to right-back.
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71 min: That Atletico triple substitution: Rodrigo De Paul, Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco on for Lodi, Koke and Griezmann.
70 min: Rodrigo De Paul, just on as part of an Atletico triple-substitution (more of which anon), shoots wide of the upright. Walker is back on the pitch put moving very gingerly.
68 min: Walker is still receiving treatment as the Atletico fans jeer him and Simeone gesticulates furiously on the touchline.
67 min: Kyle Walker intercepts a Lodi header out by the touchline then goes down injured after the pair go to ground in a heap. He looks in quite a bit of distress after what seemed a fairly innocuous coming together.
65 min: Manchester City substitution: Raheem Sterling replaces Kevin De Bruyne, who’s been struggling to get time on the ball.
64 min: Bernardo Silva robs Kondogbia of the ball about 20 yards outside the Atletico penalty area and looks to have a run on goal but he’s penalised for a foul.
62 min: Still lacking that killer pass, Atletico contine to dominate for this second half spell. Antoine Griezmann goes down in the inside-right channel looking for a free-kick but doesn’t get one.
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59 min: Manchester City are starting to look a little nervy as Atletico gather momentum with their raucous crowd getting behind them in fine voice.
56 min: Atletico are currently in the ascendency but lacking that bit of finesse and cutting edge. The final ball, as they say. They go close again when Griezmann shoots narrowly wide of the upright after connecting with a ball bouncing his way just outside the City penalty area.
55 min: Ederson clears a Koke ball over the top but only as far as Renan Lodi. He crosses towards Joao Felix, who stretches every sinew but can’t connect. He was offside again.
53 min: Felipe kicks a clearance against his team-mate Reinildo and the ball rolls backwards, hits the corner flag and stays in play. Felipe puts it out for a goal-kick off Mahrez.
50 min: Geoffrey Kondogbia wins a free-kick deep inside his own half after being bodychecked by Bernardo Silva.
47 min: Koke tries to pick out Joao Feliz with a ball in behind through the centre. It’s intercepted but the striker was several metres offside anyway.
48 min: Much like the first half, Atletico have ramped up the aggression for the opening minutes of the second. Kyle Walker sticks out a leg to take the ball off Griezmann and send it downfield.
47 min: Antoine Griezmann cuts in from the right and shoots into the side-netting under pressure from Laporte. Corner. Nothing comes of it although Felipe made a decent fist of hurling himself at the ball as it came in.
Second half: Manchester City 0-0 Atletico Madrid (agg: 0-1)
46 min: Play resumes with no changes of personnel on either side ... yet. There has been one minor change in so far as Phil Foden is now sporting a blue bandage.
An email: “Foden has been a shadow of himself since the aerial challenge,” writes Eamonn. “You can see Atletico players are bullying him. Won’t be surprised to see him hooked.”
He’s not wrong. Whether he’s feeling intimidated or suffering the ill effects of that bang on his head early doors, Foden has been a very peripheral figure, albeit one that sticks out like a sore thumb (or indeed a sore Phil Foden) with that beige bandage wrapped around his head.
Half-time: Atletico Madrid 0-0 Manchester City (agg: 0-1)
Peep: Something of an ordeal for anyone who had to play in it or watch it, the first half draws to a merciful end. Manchester City hit the post once but were otherwise kept at arm’s length and not much else happened. Both managers will be pleased.
44 min: Atletico’s players surround the referee looking for a yellow card for John Stones after he’d fouled Joao Felix. In the BT Sport commentary box, Darren Fletcher and Glenn Hoddle are clutching their pearls and swooning like a pair of Victorian ladies at the sight of this outrageous shithousery that you just don’t see week in and week out in the Premier League.
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42 min: This is more like the Atletico we were expecting - dogged, stout defence and the occasional long ball forward ... but mainly dogged, stout defence. It remains scoreless on the night but City lead 1-0 on aggregate.
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40 min: Kyle Walker gets the better of Lodi down the right, cuts inside and tries a shot. Reinildo blocks.
37 min: City continue to dominate having weathered their hosts’ early storm but are creating little in the way of chances. Cancelo cuts in from the left and tries to curl one goalwards from outside the penalty area but sends his shot high and wide of the top corner he was aiming for.
34 min: The ball’s played wide to Lodi on the left and he cuts inside before offloading to Lemar. A promising move ends with Ederson getting down to claim a deflected Geoffrey Kondogbia shot from distance that appeared to be skidding wide.
32 min: Having hit the post with that effort, the ball rebounded to Gundogan, who tried to head it back past Oblak. He succeeds only in heading it straight into Felipe’s face, a state of affairs from which he will almost certainly take some minor consolation.
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29 min: After a del;ightful ball into the City penalty area by Mahrez there’s a goalmouth scramble in the Atletico penalty area and Ilkay Gundogan thumps the ball off the foot of the post. The hosts scramble clear with their hearts in their mouths.
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26 min: Teed up by Joao Cancelo, a Kevin De Bruyne shot is put out for a corner by a Reinildo block. Oblak comes for the Mahrez inswinger but doesn’t get it, then Stefan Savic sets off on a counter-canter down the right wing. He runs down a blind alley.
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24 min: Atletico central-defender Felipe gets booked for a lunge in behind on De Bruyne. He complains vociferously and at great length about the injustice of it all but it was in the post since his aerial challenge on Foden.
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23 min: Kyle Walker plays the ball towards Foden near the byline but he’s unable to keep it in play and it goes out off his arm.
21 min: Atletico advance, with Griezmann, Kondogbia, Llorente and Koke all getting time on the ball. Their move comes to naught as they run out of road down the right flank. Goal kick for City.
20 min: Marcos Llorente sends a diagonal ball from deep into the Manchester City penalty area. It’s cleared.
19 min: Under no pressure, Riyad Mahrez lets a bogstandard pass from Kyle Walker run out of play and over the touchline.
16 min: Gundogan tries to play a weighted through ball into the path of Foden on the edge of the Atletico penalty arera but it’s not quite weighted enough. Marcos Llorente steps in to intercept and clear.
15 min: Play resumes with a be-bandaged Phil Foden fit to continue.
14 min: Foden is still receiving treatment for a cut to the back of his head.
13 min: Contesting a high ball, Felipe clatters through the back of Phil Foden but escapes a booking. Foden is face down on the turf receiving treatment to his back or neck.
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10 min: City corner. Kevin De Bruyne curls in an inswinger, which John Stones leaps to head over despite an Atletico defender grabbing a fistful of his shirt.
9 min: Ilkay Gundogan tries to curl a shot wide of the far upright from outside the Atletico penalty area. It takes a little deflection on its way wide but the referee doesn’t notice. Goal kick.
7 min: Ahead of this game, the presumption among UK pundits was that Atletico Madrid would sit back and defend much like they did at the Etihad, hoping to catch City on the break. They were gravely mistaken - Diego Simeone’s side has roared out of the traps early doors.
5 min: City attack on the break – that wasn’t in the script – but Riyad Mahrez runs into traffic on the edge of the Atletico penalty area. Moments previously, Kyle Walker had to head the ball back towards Ederson to put a stop to a Thomas Lemar-inspired Atletico attack.
3 min: Phil Foden seems to be in the middle of City’s front three, with Riyad Mahrez to his right and Bernardo Silva to his left. They’ll be buzzing around like angry, well-drilled bluebottles mind, so expect plenty of fluidity.
2 min: Lemar floats a ball into the City penalty area but it’s headed clear.
2 min: An early slip from Kyle Walker gifts possession to Atletico in the Manchester City right-back position. He gets away with it.
Atletico Madrid v Manchester City (agg: 0-1) is go ...
1 min: The players take a knee and get roundly jeered, then City get the ball rolling against an Atletico Madrid team without a Champions League win at the Wanda so far this season.
Not long now: The teams make their way out on to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium pitch and line up either side of referee Daniel Siebert and his team of match officials.
We’ll have the Champions League anthem, which is drowned out by loud jeers and whistles, some handshakes, an exchange of pennants and a coin-toss before play gets underway. Ilkay Gundogan and Koke are tonight’s skippers.
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Those teams: Pep Guardiola makes two changes from the City team that drew 2-2 with Liverpool on Sunday. Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez come in, while Raheem Sterling and the suspended Gabriel Jesus are out. Ruben Dias doesn’t start but is on the bench.
For Atletico, there’s no place for Yannick Carrasco in the starting line-up but he is among the substitutes. Diego Simeone makes three alterations to the side that lost at Mallorca at the weekend. Renan Lodi, Lemar and Joao Felix are in.
Atletico Madrid v Manchester City line-ups
Atletico Madrid (3-5-2): Oblak, Llorente, Savic, Felipe, Mandava, Renan Lodi, Koke, Kondogbia, Lemar, Joao Felix, Griezmann.
Subs: Lecomte, De Paul, Suarez, Correa, Wass, Matheus Cunha, Carrasco, Hermoso, Vrsaljko, Serrano.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Joao Cancelo, De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan, Mahrez, Foden, Bernardo Silva.
Subs: Dias, Ake, Sterling, Grealish, Zinchenko, Steffen, Fernandinho, Carson, Delap, Edozie, McAtee, Lavia.
Some pre-match listening ...
Max Rushden, Sid Lowe, Lars Sivertsen, Archie Rhind-Tutt, Nick Ames and yours truly all chipped in to a busy episode of our Football Weekly Podcast this morning.
As well as discussing last night’s football, we learned which of our podders is most likely to refuse to resign despite being caught breaking the law and then lying about it. And also why Max would be unsuited to the Grant Schapps lickspittle role of talking disingenuous, craven cobblers on the morning round of radio and TV breakfast shows, telling everyone that I am in fact actually a great fellow who has put his law-breaking behind him, learned from his mistake should be left to get on with his very important work.
If you like what you hear and are not already a subscriber, you can sign up in all the usual places and buy tickets for our summer tour of live shows in the UK and Ireland.
Diego Simeone speaks: “We are not going to stray too far from what we do,” said Atletico’s manager upon being asked what tactics his team would employ. “We need to find the right moments to create what we can. Hopefully we can combine better, make faster transitions, and take advantage of the counterattacks.
“Manchester City play in the same way no matter who they are playing against. They have an installed, accepted and applauded philosophy. They have great players and a great coach. Pressure, quick transitions and what we can do will be important.”
Pep Guardiola speaks: “It will be a different game, not like last week,” he said at his pre-match presser. “They’re at home with their fans behind them. At the Wanda they create problems, defend and counter. They will be more intense in the top half of the field than they were the other night. We adapt and if we’re losing, we go with everything to get it back. If we’re on top, maybe we sit a bit deeper.
Tonight’s match officials
- Referee: Daniel Siebert
- Assistant referees: Jan Seidel and Rafael Foltyn
- Fourth official: Felix Zwayer
- Video Assistant Referee: Marco Fritz
Early team news
Yannick Carrasco was a much-missed link-up midfield presence for Atletico Madrid during the first leg but is likely to start tonight after serving a suspension. Midfielder Hector Herrera and defender Jose Gimenez lare sidelined with injury.
Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus sits this one out on the Naughty Step but c entre-back Ruben Dias has travelled with the squad after six weeks out with a hamstring injury and could start. Midfielder Cole Palmer is also in Spain but will need to have a foot injury assessed.
Atletico Madrid v Manchester City (agg: 0-1)
Champions League quarter-final second leg: Having parked a fleet of buses at the Etihad Stadium for the first leg, Atletico got away with the concession of a solitary Kevin De Bruyne goal. While their often maligned but curiously endearing defensive approach to big Champions League games is unlikely to be too different at home tonight, they will at some point be forced to advance beyond the halfway line and try to score a goal.
As things stand, with the tie poised on a knife-edge, both teams will certainly fancy their chances of advancing to the semi-finals, where Real Madrid lie in wait. Find out who prevails from 8pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
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