Manuel Akanji had surprisingly opened the scoring in the opening few minutes of the Champions League round-of-16 second leg.
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Manchester City produced a professional display to get past FC Copenhagen in the round-of-16 tie. The defending champions had won the first leg 3-1 away from home before repeating the same score in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium. Their dominant performance in both legs earned City a comfortable 6-2 aggregate victory. All four goals in the second leg had arrived in an action-packed first half.
Manuel Akanji had surprisingly opened the scoring in the opening few minutes of the Champions League round-of-16 second leg. Julian Alvarez soon doubled it for Manchester City. Midway through the first half, Mohamed Elyounoussi had cut the deficit for FC Copenhagen. However, Erling Haaland sealed the win and the tie by scoring the third for City just before the interval. Following a solid performance, Akanji was named UEFA’s Player of the Match.
The defender explained about scoring the opening goal and also expressed his joy in being named UEFA’s Player of the Match. “I saw the ball coming perfectly for my foot, I tried to hit it and it went in. I was really happy about it. I never thought I would receive an award like this [Player of the Match] but it’s a good feeling to have one at home. My sons will like it for sure. The first two goals we scored in the first half made it easier for us because we were up four goals,” Akanji, quoted on the club’s website, said.
The centre-back added: “So it was pretty hard for them to come back. We had a little phase where we didn’t play well, then we came out in the second half and we tried to do our best. We did what we had to do today. It helps a lot [two quick goals]. For Copenhagen to come here after losing the first game, it’s pretty hard for them to come back from this. That was our goal, to score early because as long as it stayed 0-0 they had hope to come back. We did what we had to do.”
Man City have continued the favourite tag in the Champions League with the dominant win over Copenhagen, which also extended their impressive home run in the competition. Even though Akanji acknowledges that they are one of the favourites in the tournament, he wants his side to “prove it.” “We’ll see how the tournament goes. We feel good right now. We’ll see next week what our draw is. We’re confident going into the next round. We’re one of the favourites but we have to prove it,” he explained.
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