Ruthless Man City sweeps aside Gladbach, back in CL quarters
Budapest, Mar 17 (AP): The quarterfinals have proved to be the ceiling for Manchester City in the Champions League under Pep Guardiola.
The team is back there again, for a fourth straight season, after sweeping aside Borussia Monchengladbach in the last 16.
And this time, things feel very different.
The ruthless nature of City’s 4-0 aggregate win over Gladbach, sealed by another 2-0 victory over the German team in the second leg on Tuesday, smacked of a side in control of its destiny.
The celebrations at the full-time whistle were as business-like as the performance. For City, it felt the competition now starts for real.
“Since the first day I arrived here, five years ago, they told me you have to win the Champions League,” Guardiola said.
“So it’s always on our shoulders.”
Yet the expectations have proved too much for Guardiola and his team in successive quarterfinal exits, to Liverpool, Tottenham and then so painfully Lyon last season.
This looks to be City’s best chance of becoming European champion for the first time, though.
Thanks to a blistering 12th-minute strike in off the crossbar by Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan’s goal six minutes later after a flowing team move, City racked up a 24th win in its last 25 games in all competitions and a seventh straight clean sheet in the Champions League.
