Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden found the net as Manchester City beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at the Signal Iduna Park to take them through to the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League semifinals.
Manchester City are through to their second-ever UEFA Champions League semifinals as they beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 at the Westfalenstadion (Signal Iduna Park) to win the two-legged tie 4-2 on aggregate.
It was not as easy as the scoreline may suggest as Phil Foden became just the 5th Englishman to score in both legs of a UEFA Champions League quarterfinal.
City snatched victory in the dying moments of the first leg in Manchester through Phil Foden and were down early on against Dortmund who managed to hold onto their 1-0 at half time, which saw the Black and Yellows going through on the away goal rule at that point in time.
17-year-old English starlet Jude Bellingham gave the home side the lead with a stunning strike as the German giants looked set to upset the English giants.
The youngster was robbed off a goal in the first leg after the referee ruled a foul on him against Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson when there was clearly no foul. Dortmund felt robbed once again when the referee gave a penalty that VAR agreed with when the ball hit Emre Can’s hand off his own header.
Erling Haaland failed to have an impact for Dortmund. (Photo by Joachim Bywaletz/BSR Agency/Getty Images)
As per the rules, this was clearly not supposed to be given as a handball but fortune favoured City once again as Riyad Mahrez stepped up to take it and the Algerian captain made no mistake from the spot to put City in control as Dortmund’s away goal was cancelled out in the 55th minute.
Phil Foden then sealed the deal once again as he scored the winner in the 75th minute to put City up 2-1 and 4-2 on aggregate. The game was done and dusted after this as it was the final nail in the coffin for Edin Terzic’s side who deserved more over the two legs and felt a criminal form of injustice in both the legs.
Terzic was disappointed with the decision but gracious nonetheless.
“To be fair, you have to congratulate Man City,” Terzic said. “They played brilliantly and deservedly go one round further.
“After three of four halves, however, we were through – then it’s annoying that we end up conceding two goals like this. At the referee training it is clearly stated that heading into one’s arm is not punishable.
“Let me put it this way – We weren’t very lucky with decisions in the two games. We had a big dream. It is now unfortunately over.”
City will face Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in the semifinals, with the French champions riding high after knocking out holders Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
It is the first time City have reached the semifinals under manager Pep Guardiola. Guardiola won the competition twice during his time as manager of Barcelona, beating Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the finals on both occasions.
Man City’s previous appearance in the last four came in 2015-16, when they were knocked out by Real Madrid in Manuel Pellegrini’s final season in charge.
The defeat means that Dortmund’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League are extremely slim, as they sit in 5th place in the Bundesliga, 7 behind fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt with just 6 games to play.
