Man City beat a stubborn Atletico Madrid at the Etihad to take a slender lead in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg.
Kevin De Bruyne’s second-half goal was enough for Man City to beat Atletico 1-0.
In a classic Simone away game, all of Atletico’s players packed their own box in an effort to deny the high-flying Citizens a chance to score at home.
The Argentine would not have been bothered by the fact that his team registered zero shots on goal against 15 by City and gave up 71% of the possession of the ball.
The reigning Premier League dominated possession as usual and were the only side to carve out chances in the opening 45 minutes, with the visitors content to defend and hit on the counter-attack as the first half ended without a goal.
Man City continued the trend early in the second half.
Ilkay Gundogan was thwarted at the doorstep right after the break and Jan Oblak was called into action to parry away De Bruyne’s goal-bound free-kick minutes later.
Atletico’s rare breaks served as a reminder to City that they had to keep some discipline, although when the Spaniards did fashion an opening Marcos Llorente’s soft effort was easily dealt with by goalkeeper Ederson.
With the tie heading to a draw, Guardiola rolled the die and brought Phil Foden on in the 68th minute.
The England international made an instant impact, playing an incisive pass to De Bruyne, who calmly slotted past Oblak to give City the lead in the match and the two-legged tie.
