Man City are through to the knockout stages of the Champions League despite being held to a blank draw against FC Copenhagen while Chelsea continued to show their improvement with another emphatic win over AC Milan.
With an important Premier League game against Liverpool on the horizon, Pep Guardiola chose to rest City’s goal-machine Erling Haaland who had stared in their previous meeting at the Ethiad.
The lack of goal threat up front showed but City still managed to carve out chances at will, and Rodri had the ball in the back of the net in the 11th minute with a thundering strike but the goal was ruled out for a marginal handball call on Riyad Mahrez during the scuffle before the goal.
The winger then had the chance to redeem himself from the penalty spot in the 25th minute but saw his effort saved by Kamil Grabara.
Just five minutes later Sergio Gomez was sent off for committing a foul on the edge of the box denting City’s chances even further. The visitors still continued to dominate with Kevin De Bruyne and Joao Cancelo both going close.
With a one-man disadvantage, Guardiola chose to reserve his players’ energy for the weekend and his side saw out the game with no troubles.
Man City did not have to wait long to find out their fate after their draw against Copenhagen as their groupmates Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla drew their fixture 1-1 to send the cityzens to the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s turnaround in form continued under Graham Potter as his side completed the double over AC Milan at the San Siro to move to the top of Group E.
Fikayo Tomori was sent off early for the hosts as Jorginho and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored for the visitors to give their side a fourth consecutive victory under Potter’s stewardship.
