An unexpected home draw was not enough to stop Man City from going through to the next round of the Champions League.
Sporting Lisbon held Manchester City to a goalless draw in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday. The Citizens qualified for the quarter-finals with a 5-0 win on aggregate while Sporting managed to put up a decent fight.
A quiet night at Etihad!
Man City came into the game on the back of their 4-1 thrashing of Manchester United on Sunday. Surprisingly, Pep Guardiola decided to use almost all of his regular starters despite being 5-0 ahead on aggregate.
City took control of the possession early on but failed to convert their half-chances in the first period. However, after the interval, the guests showed more enthusiasm to break the deadlock at the Etihad Stadium.
However, their attacks provided more space for City to surprise them on the counter-attacks. Gabriel Jesus scored in the 50th minute for the Citizens, but VAR disallowed his strike.
The guests pushed harder to score in the final ten minutes while letting their damage-control guards down. Their efforts were enough to earn pride for them in front of their army of travelling fans, but City prevented them from ruining their clean-sheet.
What’s next for Man City and Sporting?
Man City will now have to wait for the draws to discover their opponents in the quarter-finals. They will find that out before facing Crystal Palace in their next league game on Monday.
On the other hand, Sporting must return to Primeira Liga to continue their close title race with Porto. Next up for the Green and Whites is a battle against Moreirense.
Player Ratings
Manchester City: Ederson (7), Egan-Riley (7), Stones (6), Laporte (7), Zinchenko (6), Gundogan (7), Fernandinho (7), B. Silva (6), Foden (7), Jesus (7), Sterling (6).
Bench: Mbete (6), Carson (6), McAtee (7), Mahrez (6).
Sporting Lisbon: Adan (7), Inacio (6), Coates (8), Neto (7), Porro (7), Ugarte (6), Tabata (6), Matheus Reis (7), Sarabia (6), Paulinho (5), Slimani (5).
Bench: Riberio (6), Edwards (7), Esgaio (6), Santos (5), Feddal (6).
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