Manchester City Beats Dinamo Zagreb

DBasia.news –  Manchester City’s victory was achieved with patience. Raheem Sterling was the key to his team’s victory over Dinamo Zagreb in the second matchday of Group C of the 2019-2020 Champions League.

Manchester City managed to capture Dinamo Zagreb in the second matchday Champions League match at the Etihad Stadium, Wednesday (2/10) AM.

This victory hs made City control the Group C standings with six points. While the defeat suffered by Dinamo jas made them both collect three points with Shakhtar Donetsk.

First round

The host immediately put pressure early in the first half. However, the guests have prepared a deadbolt defense that was challenging to dismantle.

The cooperation in the sixth minute that was raised by Aguero with Bernardo Silva still received intercept from the opposing defender. Four minutes later, Cancelo also failed to make a good cross as the ball was still caught by the keeper.

In the 12th minute, a golden opportunity was again obtained by the host. First, Aguero was found to be dealing with the goalkeeper but his shot was blocked. Then the wild ball which was also forwarded by Gundogan and Bernardo Silva was still be blocked.

City continues to storm the opponent’s defense. After Bernardo’s shot from the right side which widened in the 18th minute. Gundogan’s shot in the 21st minute also still failed to break down Livakovic’s goal as it still hit the crossbar.

The host was actually able to score a goal through a powerful shot from Aguero when he received a pass from Rodri in the 26th minute. But the goal was not validated by the referee as before the goal occurred, Rodri was seen controlling the ball with his hand.

The Citizens are able to achieve 79 percent possession, release 278 passes versus 77 and take seven shots with one of them hitting the bar. But all that still hasn’t changed the 0-0 score when the match ran for a half hour.

In the 41st minute, David Silva was brought down in the penalty box by the opponents’ defender, only according to the referee it was still not feasible to receive a penalty kick

Until the first half ended, both teams must accept the 0-0 draw.

Second round

At the beginning of the second half, the situation is still the same as the first round. City continued to try to dismantle the tight defense of Dinamo Zagreb.

In the 48th minute, on the back line, Dinamo had a miscommunication between Livakovic and Peric when dispelling a cross pass with Livakovic’s ball which was released. However, Aguero who received a golden opportunity from the wild ball still failed to open the score as his shot soared.

Having difficult in breaking through the opponent’s goal, Pep finally played Raheem Sterling to replace Bernardo Silva in the 56th minute. The player immediately received a good chance of a cross a minute later. However, the header he did was still wide.

The tight defense of Dinamo finally broke down too, starting from the bait on the left. Mahrez who moved quickly on the flank was able to send a flat cross to Sterling. The new player successfully changed the score in the 66th minute. The right substitute from Gurdiola.

The one goal did not satisfy City, they continued to bombard the defense of the Croatian team with sharp attacks. Luckily for the guests, City’s two opportunities was still detained through Aguero and Sterling.

In the 72nd minute, Pep Guardiola received a yellow card for the protest he raised with the referee for the incident involving Mendy with the Dinamo player.

Opportunities were found again by City when Gundogan stood freely when welcoming a flat cross from Mahrez in the 79th minute. However, Gundogan’s shot still soared above the bar.

In the 83rd minute Aguero was brought down in the penalty box by Stojanovic’s devender, the referee had time to check through VAR. But in the end there was no penalty decision.

City continued to press to include attacking players from Foden to Gabriel Jesus. They finally added the score in the final minutes through Foden’s hard shots who received a short shot from Sterling. The goals from Foden also ended the match 2-0 for the hosts.