“A warrior’s display” – Player ratings as Man City survive Atlético Madrid to make the Champions League semi-finals
In a brutal night, Manchester City drew 0-0 with Atlético Madrid to qualify for the Champions League semi-finals.
Pep Guardiola’s men took a 1-0 lead to the Spanish capital and then defended it solidly.
Here’s how the players rated at the Wanda Metropolitano:
18+ New customers only. Opt and bet £1 on Aston Villa – Match Betting – 90mins v Manchester United by 14:00 on 06.10.2024. Enhanced odds paid in Free Bets, which expire in 7 days. Click for T&Cs. GambleAware.org. Please gamble responsibly Full T&Cs apply. New UK customers only. The qualifying bet should be either a Single or Acca (2+ selections) bet, start at £10, have 1.9 or greater odds and must be settled within 7 days of sign-up. 5 Free bets which must be placed with a min odds of 2 include: 1 x £10 Free bet on any Pre-match Football game (single); 1 x £10 Free Bet for Horse Racing (single); 1 x £10 Free Bet for Acca (min 2 selections) Bet on any sport; 1 x £10 Free Bet for Acca (min 3 selections) Bet on any sport; 1 x £10 Free Bet for Acca (min 4 selections) Bet on any sport. Max payout – £500. 7 day expiry. To unlock the offer, complete the first deposit via the banking app (Open banking). 18+. GambleAware.com New customers only. First single & e/w bet only. 5p minimum stake. Odds of 1/1 or greater. 3 x £10 bet tokens. Free bet stakes not included in returns. Free bets exclude virtuals. Free bets are non withdrawable. Free bets expire after 30 days. Eligibility restrictions and further T&Cs apply. 18+. GambleAware.org 18+ only. New customers only. T&Cs apply. 18+. New UK customers (Excluding NI) only. Mobile Exclusive. £30 in FREE Bets (FB) as £20 in sports bets & a £10 casino bonus (CB). Min Deposit £10. Min stake £10. Min odds Evs. FB applied on 1st settlement of any qualifying bet. FB 7-day expiry. 1 FB offer per customer, household & IP address only. Account & Payment restrictions. 14 days to accept £10 CB, then active for 3 days. CB 5x wagering & max redeemable £100. Game restrictions apply. Cashed out/Free Bets won’t apply. 30 days to qualify. T&Cs Apply 18+. Get Paid out as a winner if your team is winning by 2 goals, even if they draw or lose. 90 mins only. T&C’s apply 18+ only. T&Cs apply. New customers only. Welcome Offer: New cust only. Deposit & Place a Bet within 7 days, and settle a £10 minimum bet at odds of 4/5 (1.8) or greater, to be credited with 3x £10 Free Bets: 1 x £10 Horse Racing, 1 x £10 Free Bet Builder and 1 x £10 Football. 7 day expiry. Stake not returned. T&Cs Apply. Acca Club: T&Cs Apply. Promo runs Mon 09:00 to Sun 23:59. Opt-in required. 50% profit boost on 7+ Acca selections. Max stake £20. Max winnings £1,000. Up to 5 boosts per customer per week. Exclusions apply.18+ GambleAware.org. 18+ only. T&Cs apply.
Atlético Madrid
Jan Oblak – 7 – Had little to do, and when he was tested he stepped up.
Felipe – 4 – Inexplicably avoided a yellow card for smashing through the back of Phil Foden early on, and then for a couple more tasty tackles as well. Still, played well until his nasty follow through after a genuinely spectacular tackle earned him a second yellow. Lost the plot after that and had to be dragged off in disgrace.
Felipe's game by numbers vs. Man City:
2 fouls
2 yellow cards
0 duels won
0 successful tackle madeLost his head. 😬 pic.twitter.com/Vb4WNiHkNj
— Squawka (@Squawka) April 13, 2022
Stefan Savic – 8 – A rock at the heart of the Atleti defence. Cut out countless City attacks and even managed to spark a mini-brawl at the end with a needless bit of aggression on an injured Phil Foden and escape a red card for pulling Jack Grealish’s hair and then another one for head-butting Raheem Sterling. In the end he only got booked, but when he went down with cramp later Diego Simeone actually walked onto the pitch to berate him. An eventful evening for the Montenegran, shall we say.
Reinildo – 8 – Intensely solid. Put Riyad Mahrez in his back pocket and never let him out.
Marcos Llorente – 6 – Battled hard.
Koke – 6 – A couple of nice passes to set Atleti counters away but didn’t really find his best rhythm.
Geoffrey Kondogbia – 8 – Amazing again at the heart of midfield. Owned the space so well, disrupting City and recycling possession for Atleti.
Thomas Lemar – 5 – Anonymous when Atleti needed him to stand tall.
Renan Lodi – 6 – Gave Walker a really tough examination but simply ran out of steam.
Antoine Griezmann – 7 – Worked himself to the bone defensively, and so was short of quality in attack.
Joao Felix – 7 – Missed a couple of early passes but in general played well despite Atleti almost playing to his weaknesses than his strengths. His ability on and off the ball is exemplary
- Champions League favourites
- Champions League semi-finals: When are they and who are the favourites?
- Hamann: Why Klopp, Mourinho and Ancelotti are all better than Guardiola
Atlético Madrid Substitutes:
Rodrigo De Paul (for Koke 69′) – 6 – Added a bit of drive.
Yannick Carrasco (for Griezmann 69′) – 6 – Ran at City over and over but just couldn’t get anything.
Angel Correa (for Renan Lodi 70′) – 6 – A catalyst, just not enough of one.
Luis Suárez (for Lemar 82′) – 5 – Couldn’t get into the game.
Matheus Cunha (for Joao Felix 82′) – 6 – Instantly caused trouble. Almost scored.
Kwiff betting offer: Bet £10 Get £20
Eligible readers interested in the Kwiff betting offer can follow THIS LINK or click the image below
New Customers Only. The Promotion operates as a £20 Surprise Bet when you place a bet of at least £10 on any market with odds greater than or equal to 1.50 as your first bet. The Promotion runs from 29/12/2021 12:00 (UTC) until 31/12/2022 12:00 (UTC) (the “Promotional Period”). 18+ only. Be Gamble Aware.
Manchester City
Ederson – 8 – Finally made a save in the tie, 125 minutes in! Was sharp sweeping behind his defence, however, and made a couple of absolutely massive saves in stoppage time to deny Atleti an equaliser.
Kyle Walker – 7 – Defended his flank well under immense pressure from Atleti. Unfortunately for City he had to go off injured after twisting his ankle making a clearance, and with big matches looming on the horizon City can ill-afford to lose him for long.
John Stones – 7 – A solid display handling the Atleti pressure. His biggest moment was an incredible block from Cunha (that was admittedly his fault as he played everyone onside).
John Stones' game by numbers vs. Atlético Madrid:
97 touches
76 passes attempted
73 passes completed
4 duels won
4 x possession won
2 tackles made
1 blocked shotA rock at the back. 🪨 pic.twitter.com/rRKOObFdCM
— Squawka (@Squawka) April 13, 2022
Aymeric Laporte – 7 – Another robust defensive performance but it’s notable that for all his qualities he cannot command a back-line at all. City will be desperate for Ruben Dias to return.
Premier League title race odds
Find the latest Premier League winner odds for the 2024/2025 season here:
PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE ODDS |
|||||||
| Club | Sky Bet | ||||||
| Man City | 6/5 | ||||||
| Arsenal | 7/4 | ||||||
| Liverpool | 15/2 | ||||||
| Chelsea | 16/1 | ||||||
| Man Utd | 22/1 | ||||||
| Tottenham | 28/1 | ||||||
| Newcastle | 33/1 | ||||||
| Aston Villa | 66/1 | ||||||
You have to be 18+ to gamble. All odds within this article are accurate at the time of writing (09:00, 15/07/2024). GambleAware.
Joao Cancelo – 7 – Some good cover defending from the left and the stepped up when switched to the right as well.
Rodri – 8 – A pillar for City. The ex-Atleti man was predictably very comfortable amid the chaos at the Wanda and just kept on getting stuck in and driving the ball to his team-mates.
Kevin De Bruyne – 5 – Played reasonably well, orienting the City attack and causing danger with his movement. Somewhat lost in the shuffle in the second-half, however, and was subbed off on the hour with a knock.
Ilkay Gundogan – 5 – Inexplicable miss on the half hour after being teed up by Foden and then repeated the trick late in stoppage time as well. For a guy who excels at getting into goalscoring positions he is such a sloppy finisher.
Riyad Mahrez – 5 – Very quiet but an OUTRAGEOUS outside of the foot pass to rival Modric’s led to City’s best chance of the first-half and so he can’t get a 4/10 even though his performance surely deserved one. Really picked a bad time to lose form!
Bernardo Silva – 5 – Struggled mightily at left-wing and looked better when shifted to central midfield. Still, a quiet night.
Phil Foden – 7 – A bizarre performance where he wasn’t really good in the traditional sense, but still stepped up majorly for Manchester City. Despite getting clattered early, he got bandaged up and went back to war with Atleti. Showed no fear in the face of ceaseless Simeone-style aggression and that allowed him to be City’s standard bearer. A warrior’s display.
“Phil was such a threat in both games,” said John Stones after the game. “[It was] how he drove us up the pitch, how he gained us yards, how he bought fouls and things like that I thought he was outstanding and yeah, feeling it after the game now.”
Manchester City Substitutes:
Raheem Sterling (for De Bruyne 64′) – 4 – Came on and somehow managed to make City even more anaemic.
Nathan Aké (for Walker 73′) – 8 – Magnificent. The best City player on the park. Made more clearances than anyone (5) and he only played 20 minutes. When City needed someone to stand up and repel the Atleti attacks at the end of the game it was Aké who did the business. Given the Walker injury he could be set for an extended run in the side and if tonight is anything to go by, that might work out ok for City.
Nathan Aké made more clearances (5) than any other player on the pitch during Atlético Madrid vs. Man City.
He only played 17 minutes. 🥵#UCL pic.twitter.com/FUkoBph186
— Squawka (@Squawka) April 13, 2022
Fernandinho (for Bernardo 79′) – 4 – Came on to add some leadership and instead just looked like a divorced dad trying to chase his kids around a park on his monthly visitation.
READ MORE:
- Sky Vegas welcome offer (50 free spins and no deposit required)
- Live stream today’s football
- Football accumulator tips
