Rio Ferdinand has heaped praise on Manchester City's defence for their part in Tuesday's 3-0 Champions League quarter-final first leg win over Bayern Munich.
City handed themselves a massive advantage going into next week's second leg, thanks to goals from Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland. And Pep Guardiola's side could have had more, were it not for a number of saves from Bayern keeper Yann Sommer.
But just as impressive as the goals was a clean sheet, with the back four of John Stones, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake outstanding in keeping Bayern at range. Thomas Tuchel's side had several shots from distance on the night but their pace out wide found next to no joy such was the strength of City's defending.
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And it earned praise from former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand, who was impressed with how they nullified the threat in wide areas.
"Early on we spoke about the threats that Bayern Munich came with," Ferdinand told BT Sport. "The artillery out wide, especially, the pace of [Kingsley] Coman and [Leroy] Sane, [Serge] Gnabry if he went out there, and Musiala. Akanji and Ake were absolutely convincing in that position - they said 'come on, I’ll front you up and I’ll go one-v-one against you'.
"They didn’t need to be doubling up, they said 'come on, I can deal with you'. That’s a big difference, and as good as they are they bring positives. Cancelo and Zinchenko playing full-back in years gone by, you couldn’t do that - as good as they are on the ball, you can’t say go and play one-v-one against that type of player.
"These two can do it and then it allows other players to have impacts elsewhere on the pitch, so in that sense they were great. Dias’ blocks speak for themselves, he was phenomenal, and John Stones’ versatility being able to move in between the lines of midfield and defence, but also defend as well, I thought the back four were phenomenal."
With a front four of Musiala, Gnabry, Sane and Coman, Tuchel's gameplan was clear as he looked to exploit City defensively with raw pace. But the quartet stood strong throughout, defending with composure and throwing bodies on the line when necessary. Former City man Joleon Lescott singled out Ake as the standout player.
"Ake, for me," he said. "He’s a defender that loves to be one-v-one and takes pride in not being beat whether it’s the ball or the man. Akanji, he was determined, he laid some on Musiala early on but all the defenders, I think they took so much pride in not conceding and not giving anything away, to be honest. I think they recognised the threat that Bayern have."
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