Manchester City saw off FC Copenhagen 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in Denmark.
Kevin De Bryne put City ahead in the 10th minute and Pep Guardiola’s side looked comfortable until a poor clearance by Ederson allowed Copenhagen player Magnus Mattsson to level the scores. But parity would last only till the 45th minute when Bernado Silva scored with a clever flick to put the English Champions back in front.
Phil Foden’s goal in the stoppage time toward the end of the game gave City a two-goal cushion ahead of their meeting at Etihad in the first week of March. The Danish side had beaten City’s rivals Manchester United at the Parken Stadium in the Champions League group stage back in November, but were no match for Guardiola’s men.
City will now turn their attention to the Premier League when they take on Chelsea on Saturday.
Grealish injury concern for Pep Guardiola
Manchester City’s early momentum was clearly disrupted by the early departure of Jack Grealish to injury.
The England forward was making his first start in six games but pulled up with what appeared to be a muscle injury after challenging for the ball with Diogo Goncalves.
Grealish, who missed three games in September with a hamstring injury, was then taken off in the 21st minute and City will be hoping the issue is not as bad as it initially looked.
“It looks like a muscular [injury] for Jack Grealish. It is a pity. He helped us to play at the right tempo. He felt it when he rolled on the grass.” Guardiola said.
Sherjeel Malik is the editor at FanHaat with a writing experience in multiple sports. He oversees the editorial and content coverage at FanHaat and writes often around combat sports, football and other marquee sports. A professional highlight of his career was when WWE’s Paul Heyman shared one of his articles on his social media.
Apart from writing, editing and watching sports, he likes to indulge in reading fiction, watching war documentaries and is a fan of Liverpool FC
