Pep Guardiola: “I am very pleased because in both games we deserved to be in the Champions League quarter-finals,” the City boss tells BT Sport. “CJ Egan-Riley played really good and didn’t miss one ball. He is a seven. He is nothing exceptional in anything but that is a good sign as a defender as he doesn’t make mistakes. Scott Carson could play and we gave 45 minutes to the other guys.”
On Scott Carson’s save: “Yeah really good! He deserves it. He is so important to us in the dressing room. It was good for him.”
On the high expectations people have of City in Europe “It’s a good sign,” he says. “The people didn’t care what we were and now step-by-step the club grew and now for many years we are there in this competitions.
“Now we are again in the quarter-finals as the best eight teams in Europe. I learn to enjoy the moments. I celebrate it because I know how difficult it is. When you go through every opponent is difficult. Now it’s time to congratulate everyone, focus on the Premier League then next week we will see the draw.”
Antonio Adan: “After the result of the first game the tie became practically impossible,” says Sporting’s goalkeeper. “We have to be proud because it’s part of the process. The team was better defensively, and they didn’t play with the same clarity either. We left satisfied.”
Match report: Man City 0-0 Sporting (agg: 5-0)
Champions League round of 16: A foregone conclusion since the first leg three weeks ago, City used this match to blood some youngsters, give Scott Carson a rare run-out and confirm their place in the quarter-finals for a fifth consecutive season. Jamie Jackson reports from the Etihad ...
Fernandinho: “It’s important to keep playing good especially after we played against Manchester United,” City’s captain tells BT Sport. “Everyone wants to keep going in that direction. We played the same way we always play. The second half we scored but it was offside and they had more chances. But that’s football, sometimes you don’t get lucky.
On City’s three Champions League debutants: “It just shows the great work Manchester City have been doing with the academy,” he says. “They have been training with us and know the way to play. They felt really comfortable playing with us. I’m really happy for them tonight. I hope they can play more often for Manchester City.”
Man of the Match: There were no stand-out performers tonight so the official Uefa technical observer has played a straight bat and given it to Fernadinho on the evening of his 100th Champions League appearance. “He’s been really good in the middle of the pitch, a proper leader commanding the team – with and without the ball,” he said.
Elsewhere in the Champions League: To nobody’s great surprise, Paris Saint-Germain, the most gutless team in world football, have bottled it again. Find out how with Scott Murray ...
A quick recap: A fairly uneventful first half was followed by a slightly more eventful second half: thie highlights of which were a fine goal by Gabriel Jesus by being ruled out by the curtain-twitchers in Uefa’s version of Stockley Park and the introduction of Scott Carson, who many of us may have forgotten existed.
Full time: Manchester City 0-0 Sporting (5-0)
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeeeeep! It’s all over at the Etihad, where Sporting have salvaged some well-earned pride in front of their army of travelling fans following their first leg tonking in Portugal.
City, meanwhile have advanced to the quarter-finals for the fifth season on the spin and will be happy to have kept a clean sheet, blooded three Champions League debutants and avoided losing any players to injury or suspension.
90+3 min: McAtee tees up Sterling, who shoots into the side-netting under pressure from another despairing lunge from Coates and the ref blows for full-time.
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90+2 min: A Zinchenko piledriver from the edge of the area is defelcted up in the air and threatens to loop over the head of Sporting goalkeeper Antonio Adan. He punches it clear one-handed in a rather unorthodox style when catching it looked a far easier task.
90+1 min: Zinchenko whips a wonderful cross into the Sporting penalty area and City win a corner. John Stones heads the ensuing inswinger over the bar but not by much.
90 min: Nuno Santos drills the ball into the City penalty area from the left flank and John Stones puts it out for a corner.
88 min: Sporting make another couple of substitutions as the game enters the final minute of normal time. They’ll be pleased with their performance tonight, for all the good it has done them.
85 min: The “oles” ring out around the Etihad as Conrad Egan-Reilly shows some deft footwork to bamboozle an opponent as he, Fernadinho and John Stones play the ball out from a tight corner down by the corner flag.
83 min: Manchester City substitution: Luke Mbete on for his Champions League debut. Aymeric Laporte makes way.
81 min: The goals are flying in at the Bernabeu in the match between Real Madrid and PSG. A thoroughly objectionable giant of European football is going out of the Champions League tonight ... but which one, Scott Murray!?!?!?!?!
79 min: Carson is fit to continue after treatment while Sporting make two changes. Santos and Esgaio on for Paulinho and Pedro Porro.
75 min: Carson is immediately called into action, darting off his line, spreading himself Schmeichel-style and pulling off a fantastic, courageous save from Paulinho. Both players hurt themselves in the ensuing collision. It was the impressive Edwards who played Paulinho in but the striker was unable to lift the ball over Carson.
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73 min: Manchester City substitution: as third choice Manchester City goalkeeper, Scott Carson has one of the cushiest gigs in football. However, he’ll have to earn his corn tonight as he’s brought on for Ederson. It’s the 36-year-old’s first appearance this season and his second run-out in the past two.
71 min: City win a free-kick just outside the Sporting penalty area., well left of centres. Mahrez and Gundogan both fancy their cvhances and have a long chat about what to do next. Mahrez curls the ball across the face of the six-yard box and Porto clear.
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70 min: Aymeric Laporte is forced to head the ball out for a corner to prevent a cross from the left getting to Islam Slimani at the far post. Nothing comes of the set-piece, with the ball being overhit.
67 min: Fernandinho picks out Mahrez with a wonderful pass towards the right and Sebastian Coates is forced to cut out his cross before the ball reaches Jesus. I thought the former Liverpool and Sunderland defender had hacked the ball into his own net but he did well to steer it the other side of the post.
66 min: Olek Zinchenko sends a probing ball from deep into the Sporting penaty area. Adan leaps to claim it.
Meanwhile in Madrid: There has been another goal at the Bernabeu in the game between Real Madrid and PSG. Find out who scored it from Scott Murray ...
64 min: Edwards, Porro and Tabata combine down the right for Sporting. The ball’s sent into the City penalty area, where Conrad Egan-Riley heads clear.
61 min: City pile on the pressure but Sporting stand commendably firm. Pedro Porro puts the ball out for a corner after a period of sustained pressure from the hosts. It’s taken short and McAtee puts the ball into the mixer. Sporting clear.
60 min: Edwards makes an instant impression on the right wing, getting the better of Zinchenko before sending a low diagonal drive straight at Ederson.
59 min: With Sporting fans doing “the Poznam” in the away end, their manager team’s Ruben Amorim makes a change. Enfield born Marcus Edwards, a product of the TOttenham academy, comes on for Pablo Sarabia.
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57 min: WIth three-team-mates to aim at in the City penalty area, Bruno Tabata elects to shoot instead. His low drive is deflected off Olek Zinchenko and into the arms of Ederson.
56 min: McAtee picks out Jesus with a pass out to the inside-left. He tries to bend the ball into the far corner but hits it straight at Sporting goalkeeper Antonio Adan.
53 min: Jesus cuts inside from the l;eft and lays the ball off to James McAtee. The youngster attempts to play the ball back in to the Brazilian’s path with a deft backheel and almost pulls it off. Coates slides in to take it off his toe. Nothing comes of the corner.
50 min: Disallowed or not, that was a splendid non-goal by City. The manner in which Mahrez took down Zinchenko’s crossfield pass while cutting inside in one fluid movement was little short of sublime. But no, Italian video assistant referee Paolo Valeri got out his set square and ruler and decided the red line he drew from Jesus’s armpit to the grass meant he was offside by millimetres.
VAR! It's as you were at 5-0 on aggregate
After quite a long VAR consultation, Jesus is adjudged to have been this much offside as he received the pass from Mahrez. His fine “goal” is stricken from the record.
GOAL! Man City 1-0 Sporting (Agg: 6-0)
City take the lead. Mahrez takes down a cross-field ball from Zinchencko, cutting inside in the process. He runs into traffic as he tries to run across the edge of the penalty area but still manages to pick out Jesus, who scores from the tightest of angles.
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Second half: Manchester City 0-0 Sporting (5-0)
46 min: Play resumes. James McAtee, the 19-year-old scorer of three hat-tricks for City’s youth team so far this season, is on for Phil Foden and his own Champions League debut. The slightly more experienced Riyad Mahrez replaces Bernardo Silva.
Half-time: Manchester City 0-0 Sporting (Agg: 5-0)
Peep! It’s all square on the night and one suspects both sets of players will be reasonably content with how things have gone so far. Raheem Sterling had the only chance of note in a first half that Manchester City dominated without ever clickiong up front.
For Sporting it’s been all about containment and they can give themselves a big, possibly patronising pat on the back for keeping their shape and focus while being attacked by what amounts to the footballing equivalent of a swarm of bees.
42 min: Foden plays a beautifully weighted pass along the deck from deep for Gabriel Jesus to chase. Coates does just enough to nick the ball off the Brazilian’s toe and prevent him bearing down on goal.
41 min: The second leg deadlock has been broken in tonight’s other Champions League match in Madrid. Find out who’s done the damage with Scott Murray ...
40 min: Gabriel Jesus gets booked for either handball or playing fast and loose with his elbow as he challenged Matheus Reis for a high ball.
38 min: Foden plays in Sterling with a lovely little pass around the corner, but Adan stands upright and prevents the City No7 from dinking the ball over him and into the back of the net.
37 min: Located behind Antonio Adan’s goal, Sporting’s travelling fans continue to make most of the noise in the Etihad Stadium. Possibly feeling shamed into some sort of reaction, City’s fans treat them to a short burst of “Come on Citeh!”
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34 min: Slimani capitalises on a rare error by Phil Foden and plays the ball wide to Bruno Tabata on the right touchline. The former Leicester City winger is is unable to collect the return pass just inside the City penalty area.
33 min: Sporting continue to hold their shape well, not giving Gabriel Jesus an inch as he shimmies this way and that on the inside right before giving up trying to get a cross in and playing the ball backwards.
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30 min: Past the half-hour mark we go in an absorbing enough encounter, albeit one featuring few chances. Sporting’s players are under the cosh and working as hard as they can, which is a lot more than can be said for their Manchester United counterparts when they found themselves trying to overturn a far smaller lead on Sunday afternoon.
28 min: The longer this game goes on without a goal from the visitors, the more you’d have to say their hopes of overturning this five-goal deficit are dwindling. Despite this, their fans are in full voice enjoying their evening in Manchester. Fair play.
27 min: Adan punches a Fernandinho cross into the Sporting penalty area clear.
26 min: City win a free-kick just outside the penalty area, down by the byline for a Slimani foul on Gabriel Jesus. Nothing comes of it.
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25 min: Foden brings the first save of the game out of Antonio Adan with a shot from distance.
23 min: Jesus chests down a pass into the SPorting penalty area and drills the ball towards the far post. Raheem Sterling is unable to divert it goalwards under pressure from Inacio.
22 min: Islam Slimani gets put in behind the City defence with a pass from deep and hares down the inside left. Aymeric Laporte gets back to shepherd him wide and prevent him getting a shot in.
20 min: Phil Foden tries to slip in Bernardo Silva after accelerating away form Bruno Tabata but misplaces his pass.
18 min: Sporting have 10 men behind the ball as City pen them deep into their own half. They get a welcome chance to clear their lines when Egan-Riley fouls Paulinho.
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17 min: Foden picks out Sterling on the left flank, not too far from the corner flag. Offside.
15 min: Paulinho gets booked for laying hands on Aymeric Laporte after the Manchester City defender had dinked the ball over his head. He stuck out an arm, to prevent the City defender getting past him and caught him in the neck. Laporte, for his part, made a right old meal out of it, going to ground as if he’d been picked off by a sniper in the stands.
13 min: Egan-Riley whips an excellent cross from the right flank towards the far post. Raheem Sterling was waiting to leap but Pedro Porro gets head the ball out for a corner. Nothing comes of it.
12 min: Over 10 minutes gone and no chances of note to report yet. City are on top but have yet to threaten Antonio Adan’s goal.
10 min: Replays suggest Mr Valeri ought to have got involved as Jesus was clearly shoved in the back by Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte.
8 min: Bruno Tabata is penalised for a foul on Gundogan. Free-kick for City, wide on the left. The ball’s floated towards the far post, where John Stones plays it inside. Gabriel Jesus crumples in a heap on the ground looking for a peanlty but referee Halil Meler is unmoved. His Italian VAR Paolo Valeri doesn’t get involved.
7 min: Inacio slips and gives the ball away to Phil Foden deep in his own half. Sebastian Coates intervenes to get his partner in central defence out of jail.
5 min: Pedro Porro, on loan at Sporting from City, gives the ball away with an overhit through ball down the centre. He’ll catch Pep’s eye with misplaced passes like that but not for the right reasons.
4 min: Olek Zinchenko and Raheem Stirling combine down the left but are forced backwards by Sporting.
3 min: Ilkay Gundogan dinks a ball over the top trying to pick out Gabriel Jesus. It’s cut out by a firm header from Goncalo Inacio.
1 min: Conrad Egan-Riley gets his first nerve-settling touch in Champions League football and plays a cautious ball forward towardss Bernardo Silva.
Manchester City v Sporting (Agg: 5-0) is go ...
1 min: Sebastien Coates wins the toss for Sporting and puts Manchester City in to bat. Phil Foden pre-empts the whistle but gets the ball rolling at the second attempt.
Not long now: Led by referee Halil Meler, the teams arrive out on the Etihad sward for the last of the pre-match formalities. Kick-off is just a rendition of the Champions League anthem, some pre-match handshakes, a coin-toss and one shrill blast of Mr Meler’s whistle away.
Manchester City v Sporting line-ups ...
Manchester City: Ederson, Egan-Riley, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Fernandinho, Bernardo Silva, Foden, Gabriel Jesus, Sterling.
Subs: Grealish, Rodri, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Carson, Kayky, Delap, Edozie, Mbete-Tabu, Slicker, McAtee.
Sporting: Adan, Inacio, Coates, Neto, Porro, Ugarte, Tabata, Matheus Reis, Sarabia, Paulinho, Slimani.
Subs: Feddal, Nuno Santos, Ruben Vinagre, Andre Paulo, Edwards, Virginia, Ricardo Esgaio, Essugo, Duarte Ribeiro, Veiga.
Referee: Halil Meler (Turkey)
Real Madrid v Paris Saint-Germain: It’s nicely poised with PSG a goal up on aggregate following their first leg win in Paris. You can follow tonight’s other Champions League game with Scott Murray ...
Manchester City: Pep makes six changes to the Manchester City team that swatted Manchester United aside in the Premier League last Sunday.
Conrad Egan-Riley, 19, makes his Champions League debut at right-back in the absence of Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo. Fernandinho starts in midfield. Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ilkay Gundogan also start.
Pep Guardiola writes: “We got a fantastic result in the first leg against Sporting, but nothing is finished,” he writes in tonight’s match programme. “The very best teams in Europe are in this competition and anything can happen at any time. My players know they have to fight for every ball and be the best they can be tonight if we want to be in the draw for the next phase.”
Tonight’s match officials
- Referee: Halil Umut Meler (Turkey)
- Assistant referees: Mustafa Eyisoy and Ibrahim Çaglar Uyarcan
- Fourth official: Arda Kardeşler
- Video Assistant Referee: Paolo Valeri (Italy)
Early Sporting team news: Rubin Amorim has promised to put out the strongest Sporting team available tonight, despite their slim-to-no hope of winning the tie. “We have a responsibility,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if the tie is over. It’s a game where we have to fight for a win and we’ll put out the best side we can.”
Amorim is without midfielders Matheus Nunes, who is suspended and Palhinha, who is injured, while there are also concerns over the fitness of Moroccan central defender Zouhair Feddal.
Having signed for Sporting from Vitória de Guimarães in January, English winger Marcus Edwards could start on the wing for Sporting this evening, while loanee Pedro Porro could feature at right-back for the visitors against a parent club he has yet to play for. The Spanish 22-year-old has been with City since August 2019 but has spent the intervening two-and-a-half years on loan at Reall Valladolid and now Sporting.
“It was a horrible night,” said Porro of the first leg. “The reality is that it seems like a mission impossible to come back because the result is very convincing, but we are going to Manchester to compete with our heads held high, to try to win the game, even if we can’t qualify.”
Early Manchester City team news: The hosts are without Kyle Walker, who serves the second of a three-match ban he picked up for being sent off in his team’s final group game against RB Leipzig. His unnecessary kick at Andre Silva earned him an extra time on the Naughty Step from Uefa’s control, ethics and disciplinary body.
Ruben Dias, Cole Palmer and Nathan Ake are all sidelined with injury, while Joao Cancelo is ill, leaving City without an experienced right-back. Pep Guardiola said yesterday that John Stones, Fernadinho or some youngster – CJ Egan-Riley, perhaps – could fill in on the right.
Having been on the bench for the Manchester derby which City won so comfortably on Sunday, Londoner Luke Mbete could start – or come on – at centre-back, while Kevin De Bruyn is likely to sit this one out as he is just one booking away from a suspension. His absence could present an opportunity for James McAtee or Liam Delap.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, who spoke so eloquently about his worries for his home country Ukraine to Gray Lineker at the weekend, will have to temporarily push his concerns about his family and friends to the back of his mind if, as expected, he starts tonight. We wish him all the very best.
Manchester City v Sporting CP (Agg: 5-0)
Try as we might to inject an element of tension to this second leg, the gubbing Manchester City dished out to Sporting last month means this tie ended as a contest within an hour at the Estádio José Alvalade last month, when the Premier League leaders effectively sealed their progress.
Such was City’s dominance that little short of this hubristic, fate-tempting paragraph which gives the Portuguese side no chance whatsoever of overturning their deficit is likely to help the cause of Rubin Amorim and his men. Despite getting hammered by relentless City in the first leg they were warmly applauded off the field by fans who they will hope to repay with a better performance tonight.
Kick off at the Etihad is at 8pm (GMT) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
