Manchester City tonight secured safe passage to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, beating FC Copenhagen 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
City progressed with an aggregate scoreline of 6-2, and it was another fairly comfortable night’s work for Pep Guardiola‘s side.
City were never really likely to have any trouble tonight given their amazing form of late, and they showed they meant business by scoring twice in the opening 10 minutes through Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez.
Mohamed Elyounoussi pulled one back for the visitors.
But Erling Haaland then made it 3-0, taking his tally to 29 for the season across all competitions.
Copenhagen were actually much improved in the second-half, but ultimately gave themselves far too much to do.
Rio Ferdinand praises ‘valuable’ Manchester City star Manuel Akanji
Manuel Akanji was back in the starting XI tonight, after not featuring in the 3-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday.
The Switzerland international was the man who set City on their way tonight, lashing in on the volley from Julian Alvarez’s corner.
It was a terrific hit from the centre-back, and one that Sergio Aguero would probably have been proud of.
But the rest of Akanji’s performance was very solid. According to Sofascore data, he had a whopping 119 touches in the game, with only Mateo Kovacic having more.
He completed a staggering 103/108 passes for an accuracy of 95%, and also supplied one ‘key’ pass. Akanji also made three clearances, one interception and one tackle.
After the game, the TNT Sports punditry team went through the goals, and Rio Ferdinand said of the star: “He’s a player who is so valuable for this team now. Defensively, he’s fantastic. In the run in to the end of last season he played a pivotal role in the backline. So to get on the scoresheet, I’m sure he’ll be delighted with that.”
Akanji has been such a good signing
It is amazing to think that Manuel Akanji cost just £15 million from Borussia Dortmund.
While he did have some shaky performances earlier this season, he has been brilliant on the whole for City, and that backline does feel solid when he’s in it.
He took his goal so well tonight, and was then solid defensively and it is little surprise that someone like Ferdinand really rates him.
We will see if this performance from Akanji was enough to earn him a start in Sunday’s crunch match with Liverpool.
