English rivals Manchester City and Liverpool have both won their respective Champions League quarter final first legs, against Spanish champions Atletico Madrid and Portuguese team Benfica. Manchester City narrowly beat their Spanish opponents 1-0 whilst Liverpool were more comfortable in Lisbon, beating Benfica 3-1.
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Liverpool were in control for most of the match even though their opponents had home advantage. The first goal of the game came in the 17th minute when Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate heading the ball into the back of the net. Tricky winger Sadio Mane managed to double Liverpool’s lead in the 34th minute.
Benfica were more fired up in the second half and that showed when young prolific striker Darwin Nunez managed to score a goal for the home side in the 49th minute. After the goal Benfica continued to press and challenge the English team but they didn’t convert any of their chances before new Liverpool signing Luis Diaz managed to really and truly end the tie in the 87th minute.
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Manchester City completely dominated the possession stats and shooting stats of the game, whilst Atletico settled more for a conservative approach which to be fair was very close to working out. The first half didn’t feature too many Atletico Madrid attacks but included a lot of Manchester City chances, chances that were not taken.
The game completely changed when halfway through the second half Manchester City introduced Jack Grealish and Phil Foden to the game. Within a few minutes of entering the pitch Foden fantastically managed to find a marauding Kevin De Bruyne that broke the deadline, giving City the lead of the tie in the 70th minute.
Tomorrow will see reigning champions Chelsea take on Real Madrid and German champions Bayern against underdog Villareal.
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