Pep Guardiola said he was confident his Manchester City side can go all the way in the Champions League after overcoming Bayern Munich to set up a semi-final showdown against holders Real Madrid.
City reached the last four for a third successive year as they weathered a storm to claim a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their quarter-final against Bayern Munich on Wednesday and progress 4-1 on aggregate.
Erling Haaland put the result beyond doubt when, having earlier missed a penalty, he struck in the 57th minute at the Allianz Arena before Joshua Kimmich claimed a late reply for the Germans from the spot.
It set up a semi-final showdown against the competition's most decorated club and a repeat of last year's semi-final when City were beaten by Real in dramatic circumstances at the Bernabeu.
"The semi-final again ... the experience that we have in the competition, the players feel it a lot, they want to do really well," Guardiola told BT Sport.
Midfielder Bernardo Silva spoke confidently of claiming revenge over Real Madrid for last season's heartache, saying City will "go for it".
“We always go for it but we feel the team is very, very confident at the minute. I think we are going through,” Silva told BT Sport.
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Manchester City's Erling Haaland celebrates scoring the opening goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final second leg at Allianz Arena on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. PA -
Manchester City's Erling Haaland scores the opener. PA -
Erling Haaland of Manchester City scores the first goal under pressure from Matthijs de Ligt of Bayern Munich. Getty -
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland celebrates scoring the opening goal with teammates. AFP -
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson celebrates Erling Haaland's goal with teammate John Stones. EPA -
Joshua Kimmich of Bayern Munich scores the equalising goal with a penalty. Getty -
Joshua Kimmich of Bayern Munich scores the equaliser from the spot. Getty -
Mathys Tel of Bayern Munich scores a goal which was later disallowed for offside. Getty -
Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel sits in the stands after being sent off. PA -
Manchester City's Erling Haaland reacts after missing a penalty. AP -
Manchester City's Erling Haaland misses a penalty against Bayern Munich goalkeeper Yann Sommer. EPA -
Erling Haaland of Manchester City misses a penalty in the first half. Getty -
Erling Haaland blasts his penalty over the bar. Getty -
Dayot Upamecano of Bayern Munich is shown a yellow card after a handball that resulted in a penalty for Manchester City. Getty -
Referee Clement Turpin withdraws the red card shown to Bayern's Dayot Upamecano after a VAR review ruled there was an offside before he committed a foul on Erling Haaland. Getty -
Referee Clement Turpin sends off Bayern Munich's Dayot Upamecano before VAR overturned the decision for an offside. PA -
Bayern Munich's Dayot Upamecano brings down Manchester City's Erling Haaland before being shown a red card that was later overruled by VAR. PA -
Manchester City's Erling Haaland scuffles with Bayern's Leon Goretzka. AP -
Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel is shown a yellow card by referee Clement Turpin. Reuters -
Erling Haaland of Manchester City reacts. Getty -
Bernardo Silva of Manchester City goes down after a challenge by Joao Cancelo of Bayern Munich. Getty -
Manchester City midfielder Rodri wins an aerial duel with Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala. AFP -
Manchester City's Jack Grealish tangles with Bayern Munich's Benjamin Pavard. Reuters -
Yann Sommer of Bayern Munich saves at the feet of Ilkay Gundogan of Manchester City. EPA -
Bayern Munich's Kingsley Coman breaks away from Manchester City's Manuel Akanji. Reuters -
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson saves a free kick. AFP -
Bayern Munich's Leon Goretzka and Manchester City's Erling Haaland tangle. AFP
City did most of the damage in their quarter-final with their 3-0 win in the first leg but Bayern started with the belief they could turn the tie around.
They spurned numerous chances in the first half before Haaland’s strike eventually killed off their hopes.
Guardiola added: “We struggled in the first half and 4-1 doesn’t show the two games. Fortunately, they missed their chances.
“We defended well and in the second half we were much better. The only regret is we didn’t have more sequences of passes. You have to have more passes against a team of that quality.
“But apart from that, congratulations to all at Manchester City and thank you to all our fans who came to Munich.”
Ratings
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BAYERN MUNICH RATINGS: Yann Sommer – 6. Did nothing wrong with what he had to deal with – and it wasn’t too much – but had no chance when Erling Haaland was breathing down his neck for City’s goal. Would have been pleased to see the Norwegian’s penalty fly over the bar, though. AFP -
Joao Cancelo – 6. A strange night for the Portuguese, who was allowed to play against his parent club, and he enjoyed a relatively comfortable evening against his Manchester City teammates. Any concerns over his dedication to the cause were dispelled after taking a booking for a foul on Bernardo Silva just 10 minutes into the game. AP -
Matthijs de Ligt – 6. Kept Manchester City and Erling Haaland quiet in the first half and stepped out of the backline to help transition the ball well. The Dutchman stood up to everything else City tried, but in truth, it wasn’t much after the tie was settled. AFP -
Dayot Upamecano - 5. The French defender will probably have sleepless nights over the thought of playing Man City again. After his struggles in the first leg, he gave away a penalty in the first half and was booked for the handball - he was even shown a red that was eventually taken away after a VAR check. It was then his slip that allowed Haaland to finally put the tie beyond Bayern. Getty -
Benjamin Pavard – 6. Enjoyed the space that was available to him down Manchester City’s right-hand side during Bayern’s bright display in the first half. However, once City settled, Pavard’s role diminished and he was subbed off in the second half. Reuters -
Leon Goretzka – 5. Didn’t see much from the midfielder over the course of the game. Had more space during the first half but as soon as City took control of the game Goretzka failed to make any real impact in the centre of Bayern’s side. AP -
Joshua Kimmich – 7. Buzzed around for most the game and saw a lot of the ball as Bayern tried to find a way back into the tie in the early stages. Got a small reward for his industriousness by converting a late penalty to draw the game level on the night. Getty -
Kingsley Coman – 7. The best player on the pitch in the first half as his speed and trickery got the better of City’s defence – mainly Nathan Ake. His turn on Manuel Akanji was probably the peak of his highlight reel before he faded in the second period as the likelihood of a Bayern comeback became more and more unlikely. Reuters -
Jamal Musiala – 5. Showed touches of his incredible talent as Thomas Tuchel put faith in the young attacker, but failed to put a real stamp on the game. Could have had a sight of goal if he hadn’t lost his footing during Bayern’s first-half dominance, but offered little more after that. AP -
Leroy Sane – 6. Should really have put Bayern ahead in the game when he went through one-on-one with Ederson early in the first half, but the German dragged his shot wide. He did test the City goalkeeper again, but failed to make up for his miss and was subbed off on the hour mark. Getty -
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting – 5. A pretty anonymous evening for the former Stoke City striker. Early on there were signs he would give Bayern a focal point that they didn’t have in the first leg, but there was never any sign of him adding to his 17 goal-haul against City’s backline. AFP -
SUBS: Alphonso Davies (Joao Cancelo 63') – 6. Gave Bayern a bit more purpose with his pace and was brighter than some of the players that started the game. Getty -
Sadio Mane (Leroy Sane 63') – 5. Other the irony that he was brought on to replace Leroy Sane, we didn’t see anything else from the Senegalese in his second-half cameo. PA -
Thomas Muller (Jamal Musiala 71') – NR. Came on to make his 666th appearance for the club, but couldn’t do anything to help his team progress to the next round. Getty -
Mathys Tel (Eric Choupo-Moting 71') – NR. Showed why there were calls for him to start the game with a cameo that offered some flashes of danger. Getty -
Josip Stanisic (Benjamin Pavard 78') – NR. Gave away a dangerous free-kick late in the game and that was pretty much his only major contribution. Getty -
MANCHESTER CITY RATINGS: Ederson – 6. The Brazilian was reliable as ever as he stopped routine efforts from Leroy Sane and Kingsley Coman in the first half – although he was booked for time-wasting. Didn’t really get near Kimmich’s penalty, but by that point it was academic. Reuters -
Nathan Ake – 6. Bayern found a lot of joy down the City right in the first half as Ake struggled to deal with Kingsley Coman’s one-man mission to get Bayern back in the tie. He settled following John Stones more frequent returns to the back four before being forced off with an injury. Getty -
Ruben Dias – 7. A quietly assured performance from the classy centre-back. Even when Bayern were on top in the first half, Dias seemed to be City’s most competent defender and continued that level of performance across the second half. Getty -
Manuel Akanji – 6. Like Nathan Ake, struggled with the pace of Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane in the first half, with one turn from the Frenchman he won’t want to see again. Also harshly penalised for Bayern’s penalty, but other than that could be pleased with his night’s work. Getty -
Rodri – 6. Rare to seen Rodri fail to dominate possession as we saw in those early stages, but once Bayern run out of steam the Spaniard did his usual trick of keeping the City side ticking over and sailing through to the semi-finals. EPA -
John Stones - 7. Another example of Stones excelling in the hybrid position of central defence and centre midfield. He was asked to slot into the back four more frequently in the first half when Bayern were in the ascendancy and made the difference. Getty -
Ilkay Gundogan – 6. It was his shot that led to City’s penalty and he was booked after reacting to a clash with Joshua Kimmich, but outside of those moments it was a quiet night for the German. However, it didn’t need to be anything but assured as City took control of the game. AP -
Bernardo Silva – 6. Some nice footwork and drive in the first half gave City some respite as Bayern searched for a way back into the tie. Didn’t see too much from the Portuguese in the second period, but City were so comfortable that he didn’t need to move up the gears. Reuters -
Kevin De Bruyne – 6. A quiet game by De Bruyne’s ridiculously high standards. Tried to affect the game when he had the ball and link up with Erling Haaland but nothing really went the Belgian’s way for once. Subbed off towards the end, with the game and tie easily won. Getty -
Jack Grealish – 6. Didn’t hit the scintillating heights we’ve seen from the England man in the past few weeks, but was effective in the Jack Grealish way. Drawing fouls when City needed to slow the game down and always offered an outlet in attack for Pep Guardiola’s side. Getty -
Erling Haaland - 7. The Norwegian showed that he is actually human by blazing a first-half penalty over the bar, but as we’ve learnt this season you can’t keep him at bay. He scored his 48th goal of an incredible campaign as he took advantage of Bayern's slip on the counter to coolly slot home City’s opener to make sure the tie was won. AP -
SUBS: Aymeric Laporte (Nathan Ake 65') – 6. Replaced Ake and seamlessly slotted into the backline to prevent Bayern from staging any kind of unlikely comeback. Getty -
Julian Alvarez (Erling Haaland 83') – NR. No time to make any kind of impact as City saw the game out in the final moments. Kyle Walker (Kevin De Bruyne 87') – NR. PA
Haaland’s goal was his 48th of an extraordinary season.
Guardiola said: “Erling is a threat. We know that. He showed personality for the penalty. He missed it but it doesn’t matter.
“He is having a good season and finishing really good.”
Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel was sent off late in the game after letting his frustrations get the better of him and he later rated referee Clement Turpin as “grade E”.
However, he was more positive about his own players, saying there was "no difference in class" against City.
"It looks like that from the results, but it's actually a difference in self-confidence and in form," Tuchel said.
"For the little we allowed [City] to do, we were brutally punished.
"We played against the best team in Europe today, the most in-form team in Europe. We played completely on the same level, [but] in either game we didn't have even a tiny bit of luck."
