The first leg of the UEFA Europa League last eight kicks off in the early hours of the 6th.
Manchester City
It was a tight battle at home. Their dominant performance left their rivals, Sporting Madrid, almost scoreless, with only one shot on goal in the entire match. However, against the tight 550 formation of the opponents, the Blue Moon were once caught in a passive position, but fortunately, the midfield talent Phil Cotton stepped up to the plate. Only 80 seconds after he came on as a substitute, he provided an assist to help Chiyun Dibny score the only goal of the match, and won 1-0 in a thrilling victory over Sporting Club.
Passing master Diona and defensive wizard Szmonyi faced off in an exciting battle of offense and defense. Although City had the absolute advantage in terms of possession and game situation, the tight defense of Mathias made it difficult for the home team to create threats. In the first half, City failed to hit the target with 6 shots, while Mathias had nothing to show for it. This is the second time in the history of the UEFA Europa League that both sides failed to hit the target in the first half, and the last time was in April 2016 when City played Real Madrid at home.
In the 68th minute of the match, Diona made three substitutions in one go, sending in Gabiljesis, Phil Cotton and Kialisu to strengthen the offense. As expected, Phil Cotton sent a precise pass only 80 seconds after he came on as a substitute, and Kiyundi Buni scored from a narrow angle on the right side of the penalty area. The Belgian international has already broken down Real Madrid, Barcelona, Xavier and Marco Polo in the UEFA Europa League, deservedly killing La Liga teams.
It is worth mentioning that Phil Cotton also created a breakthrough after the match to confuse the opponent's defense, Benedict Schwarz seized the opportunity to pass the ball to Chivun Dibny, but unfortunately, the latter failed to finish the shot, and finally, City maintained the win with 1-0.
After the match, Manchester City's team leader Diona said: "Marco Polo is a top team, we should celebrate our win, but we still have a chance to score the second and third goals. Through substitutions, we hope to do better, but of course it's not easy to face an experienced opponent.
