All too easy as Manchester City show no signs of slowing down against Gladbach
Gabriel Jesus celebrates scoring Manchester City's second goal at the Puskas Arena stadium in Budapest. (AP Photo/Laszlo Balogh)
Pep Guardiola stalked the sidelines in Budapest wearing a black jacket with a huge Manchester City logo on his back, a gaudy fashion accessory but one which, after goals from Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus saw his team take a stranglehold on this Champions League tie, was somehow apt.
For, make no mistake, City are not only as good as in the quarter-finals of the cup they covet above all others but Guardiola and his players are wearing a metaphorical target on their backs every bit as ostentatious as the one on the manager’s jacket.
It looks as if the Premier League is as good as City’s, a date in the Carabao Cup final with Spurs awaits, along with a place in the FA Cup quarters, and Guardiola’s team are undoubtedly overwhelming favourites for the Champions League.
Guardiola had refused to even discuss Europe in the build-up to the start of City’s knock-out campaign, trying to downplay the significance of a competition that means more to him than he would probably care to admit.
It is 10 years since his second, and most recent, win while in charge of Barcelona and his time at Bayern Munich and City has been nothing but frustration as far as Europe’s biggest club tournament is concerned.
But now, surely, 19 consecutive wins and 26 straight games unbeaten, this is City’s best-ever chance of being crowned kings of Europe.
They certainly looked like a team with that in mind from kick-off in neutral Budapest and the only surprise was that it took all of 28 minutes to take the lead.
The goal came from a quite breathtaking cross from left-back Joao Cancelo who cut inside to float a hanging pass onto the head of Silva who had sprinted away from Nico Elvedi and headed home from six yards.
Portuguese international Cancelo has been one of the sensations of this season, handed an extraordinary role by Guardiola which sees him “officially” line up at left-back but often play as an additional central midfielder.
With City in such dominant form, and rarely susceptible to the counter-attack given their technical superiority and domination of the ball, that is a custom-made role that suits the energetic and skilful Cancelo down to the ground.
As to just how dominant City are at present? Consider that their 26-game unbeaten run has covered some 2,340 minutes - plus injury-time, of course - and the only time Guardiola has seen his team trail throughout that entire period was for 22 minutes against League Two Cheltenham in the FA Cup last month.
Extraordinary. And, as City close in on what will be a fourth consecutive appearance in the Champions League quarter-finals under Guardiola, it will be interesting to see if any of European football’s royalty will be able to emulate Cheltenham.
Borussia were certainly not in that class and, when Cancelo popped up in the aforementioned central midfield position just before the interval and unleashed a shot that rose just over the bar, the outcome of this tie looked a foregone conclusion.
Phil Foden had tested Yann Sommer with an early shot straight at the Swiss keeper and left-back Rani Bensebaini made a couple of vital contributions to stop Raheem Sterling in his tracks, one of which saw the English side appealing in vain for a penalty.
But, still, the demanding Guardiola would have wanted more to show for what had amounted to a pre-season stroll for this talented side.
The hour mark passed with the Germans still to record a single shot - on or off target - or win a corner and, while City were far from their scintillating best, it was jaw-droppingly easy for the Premier League leaders.
In fact, the City manager would probably have become increasingly displeased with the lack of concrete chances they were creating. Gladbach actually presented one for the Sky Blues when Bensebaini gifted the ball to Jesus who only had the keeper to beat but was blocked by Elvedi.
And his frustrations would have ramped up a notch when Borussia finally had their first touch in the City area - after an astonishing 62 minutes - when Alassane Plea hopefully flicked a boot at a Denis Zakaria cross and saw his back heel fly narrowly wide.
Warning received and understood. Just a couple of minutes later, Cancelo’s beautiful cross found Silva at the far post and his cushioned header back across goal was turned in by Jesus for a 2-0 City lead.
In the other game, Real Madrid struggled to break down an Atalanta side who played 73 minutes with 10 men before winning 1-0 with a goal four minutes from time in Bergamo.
Remo Freuler was sent off for a foul on Ferland Mendy, which the referee deemed denied a goalscoring opportunity, and late on the France left-back curled home right-footed from distance to break the hosts’ resistance with his first Champions League goal.
Sommer 6; Lainer 5 (Lazaro 63, 5), Ginter 7, Elvedi 6, Bensebaini 8; Zakaria 5, Kramer 5, Neuhaus 5; Hofmann 6 (Wolf 86), Stindl 4 (Embolo 74, 5), Plea 5 (Thurman 63, 5).
Lang, Herrmann, Beyer, Traore, Wendt, Simple, Jantschke, Grun.
Ederson 6; Walker 6, Dias 6, Laporte 6, Cancelo 9; Silva 7, Rodri 7, Gundogan 7; Sterling 7 (Mahrez 69, 6), Jesus 8 (Torres 80), Foden 7 (Aguero 80).
Stones, Zinchenko, Steffen, De Bruyne, Mendy, Fernandinho, Carson, Garcia, Doyle.
A Dias (Portugal) 7
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