Safely through to the last 8!
It was a game management match for City & a free hit for Copenhagen. Barring a catastrophe, the game was over on ten minutes after Akanji's brilliant shot from the corner for the opener, & Julian's power shot which Copenhagen's butter fingered keeper let slip through his mitts.
The Danes huffed & puffed & actually played some decent football at times, but we played within ourselves with several gears to go through if needed.
Copenhagen got the goal their endeavours deserved, & a very good move it was that led to them halving the deficit.
But after another slick move from City, the Viking latched onto a long pass over the top whilst surrounded by two defenders. Erling got it under control, stronged the defenders out of his way, & dispatched a deadly left footer into the bottom right corner to bring us in 3-1 up at halftime.
The second half saw us make a raft of changes, which essentially signalled the tie was over, as we were playing to see the game out.
Akanji was by far my MoTM, with Kovacic not too far behind. It was good to see Sergio get a half, where I thought he acquitted himself well. I still don't get why he doesn't see more game time.
I was proud to see Micah Hamilton & Jacob Wright make late appearances, to showcase our next generation in waiting alongside Oscar Bobb & Lewis.
We did what we needed to do tonight, & outside of the dislocated finger Nunes suffered, we came through the tie pretty well unscathed & got the job done.
Roll on the Dippers on Sunday & fingers crossed for a decent CL quarter final draw. Several big hitters have made it through to the last eight of this season's Champions League, so to be honest the draw options will range from difficult, to very difficult.
BUT these are the nights we never thought we'd experience, let alone us becoming European & World treble winning Champions, so let's just drink it in & enjoy the ride. Over to Pep & the lads. )(
