UCL: De Bruyne breaks resilient Atletico, as Liverpool win in Benfica

BY: BLACKCOIN

Kevin De Bruyne's solo strike at the Etihad was all Manchester City needed on Tuesday night to sin a resilient Atletico Madrid side in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.

Having already defeated the red side of Manchester, Atlético had their sights firmly set on Pep Guardiola’s men, who stood in the way of them reaching their first UEFA Champions League semi-final since the 2016/17 campaign.

While City did all the attack, their guests were willing to sit back and wait for the opportunity to attack and they almost got that when Antoine Griezmann found himself on the break only for İlkay Gündoğan to trace him back and for him to an error.

City had penalty appeals that fell on deaf ears but with Guardiola sensing danger, he was to throw in Jack Grealish and Phil Foden to boost his attack. The impact of the changes was immediate with Foden providing the magic moment for the hosts after only being on the pitch for a minute by slipping De Bruyne through on goal, who placed the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.

In another match of the day, Liverpool extended their 100% away win record in the Champions League as they emerged 3-1 winners over Benfica.

Ibrahima Konaté, gave them a 17th minute lead in what was his first goal for the club when he got his head on the end of an Andrew Robertson corner. It was soon 2-0 when Benfica lost out in midfield, and within three passes Sadio Mané tapped into an empty net.

While Darwin Núñez pulled one back for the hosts after an error from Konate, Luis Díaz who played for Benfica's rivals Porto was to ensure the Reds went into the second leg with a two-goal cushion with two minutes from time when rounded Odysseas Vlachodimos to roll in an empty net.