Greetings everyone,
In a game which we believed to be one of the toughest fixtures of this champion's league quarter final draw. We expected to see nothing short of excellence from both sides. And although that wasn't entirely the case for both sides, Man City certainly showed a far more winning desire than their opponents, Bayern Munich.
Looking at the line-up from both sides before the start of the game, I was convinced both teams played their best 11 for the fixture. Man City stuck to their recent 3-2-5-1 formation while Bayern played their usual 4-2-3-1 with no player to spare.
I believe the game was off to a great start with both sides fighting fiercely for the ball and winning duels. Although both teams seemed a bit rough around the edges, Rodri's 27th goal seemed to be the difference maker.
It was quite apparent even in the first half that Bayern's defense was going to face a lot of problems looking at how Upamecano could not deal with the pressure from Jack Grealish. I'm still surprised he wasn't subbed off by Tuchel since it certainly wasn't his day today.
The 3-0 scoreline was well deserved by Man City but it doesn't tell the whole story as they weren't at their best either. City is mostly known for commanding possession throughout the game, but you can't entirely have that in a game of this magnitude. However, all of Man City's players played their roles quite well to attain this victory.
The players that stood out to me in this match were Jack Grealish, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Rodri. But it was a brilliant team performance on the part of Man City. I was however disappointed by the manner in which Bayern approached the game as they weren't as sharp on the break as they normally are.
Alphonso Davis was struggling to get past Bernado Silva in his own half while Serge Gnabry was losing possession of the ball unnecessarily. Jamal Musiala, Coman, and Kimmich also underperformed on this occasion. Thomas Muller and Mane could have been pivotal in this game if they had started early as they showed promise in the latter stages of the game.
All things considered; it could have been a worst scoreline if not for some important saves made by Yann Sommer. Maybe Tuchel needs a bit more time to settle with the team before he can get things running yet again. It could have been a whole different show if Nagelsmann was still at the wheel but I'm not going to dive into that.
Could this finally be Manchester City's year to win it. Only time will tell.
Thank you for your attention.