Manchester City won the game against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday-evening in the final phase. The English got the equalizer from Marco Reus in the 84th minute, but answered with the winning late goal from Phil Foden: 2-1. The visitors had earned an extra goal, but a flawless goal by Jude Bellingham was not counted due to a controversial decision by referee Ovidiu Hategan. The return will take place in Dortmund on April 14.
Manager Pep Guardiola changed his starting eleven in five places compared to the won Premier League game with Leicester City (0-2). For example, Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus had to give up their respective places to Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, while John Stones in the back was preferred over Aymeric Laporte. Furthermore, Ilkay Gündogan and João Cancelo played in favor of Fernandinho and Benjamin Mendy. Nathan Aké started on the sofa. The most important absentee from Dortmund was the injured Jadon Sancho, who, by the way, made himself heard via Twitter during the match.
After a reluctant opening phase of both parties, the ban was broken after seventeen playing minutes. It started with Emre Can, who unfortunately handed the ball around the center circle to Riyad Mahrez. After a quick switch, Foden delivered a cross to the advanced Mahrez, who gave De Bruyne the opportunity to shoot in from close range with a return ball: 1-0. Moments later, Dortmund also got a chance. This time it was Rodri who made a mistake, but Marco Reus was a toe-length short to give Raphaël Guerreiro’s watched bow ball the desired sequel.
Aiii! ??
Emre Can delivers the ball very easily to midfield and City benefits optimally ??De Bruyne leads the lightning-fast counterattack and is ultimately also the final station, 1-0 City! ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #MCIBVB pic.twitter.com/BBTqPdwJV2
– Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) April 6, 2021
Then a very messy phase started, which was mainly caused by referee Ovidiu Hategan. After half an hour of play, Rodri willingly went to the ground in the hostile sixteen when Emre Can’s shoe came close to the midfielder’s face. At first, Hategan awarded City a penalty, but that decision was rightly rectified by the video referee: no penalty. Remarkably enough, the yellow card that Can had received for his action remained standing.
A few minutes later, the arbitrator in question made another decision that was not immune from controversy. Jude Bellingham scored after goalkeeper Ederson’s gross error of judgment; However, Hategan felt that the Dortmund midfielder committed a foul. With that, the Germans were deprived of a pure goal. According to the regulations, the video referee could not intervene, as Hategan had whistled for a violation early on. Reason enough for Sancho to express his displeasure on Twitter: “This referee needs to be checked.”
This Ref needs checking! ???????
– Jadon Sancho (@ Sanchooo10) April 6, 2021
Frustrated Dortmund was determined to put things in order in the second act. In the 48th minute, Erling Braut Haaland Rúben Dias beat on speed after a nice depth ball from Mahmoud Dahoud, but the Norwegian did not come out well with his steps to outsmart Ederson. On the other side, Foden killed a great opportunity. De Bruyne made it to the end line on the right side of the penalty area and put back to Foden, who could print at the height of the five-meter line but shot straight at goalkeeper Marwin Hitz.
Fifteen minutes before the end, the home team came into a promising position again. This time Foden served De Bruyne, who lashed out from the edge of the box but shot just wide. Although Dortmund seemed to be getting tired, the equalizer was found six minutes before the end of regular time. After a play-in pass from Bellingham, Haaland served Reus in a beautiful way, who got the ball into the box and put the final score on the scoreboard with a diagonal slider: 1-1. City replied in the ninetieth minute. De Bruyne put the ball high at the far post, where Gündogan put it back to Foden. The latter tapped in from close range: 2-1.