London (AFP)

If Manchester City ended up snatching a small advantage (2-1) at the end of the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League against Dortmund, the Germans were able to sow doubt in Pep Guardiola's men with a very solid performance.

By equalizing six minutes from the end of regulation time, after a good action from Jude Bellingham and an instantaneous deviation from Erling Haaland, Marco Reus probably thought he had done the hard part (1-1, 84th).

A goal that was not undeserved and which had come to reward a performance at the antipodes of their disappointing matches in recent weeks in the Bundesliga.

If the initiative remained very largely with the Sky Blue, Dortmund showed a cohesion and a determination to defend the smallest square centimeter of ground which greatly upset the men of Pep Guardiola.

The latter, however, expected that his team could not reproduce the demonstration against Mönchengladbach in the previous round (2-0, 2-0) and that the level of the opposition would rise a notch.

He expected - Dortmund had never hidden his intentions - this low and mobile block which would bet everything on the speed of Halaland.

Especially since Jadon Sancho was absent.

And Guardiola had taken the opposing offensive threat very seriously, his team having very well integrated the trajectories of the passes to prevent the charges of the yellow and black light cavalry.

Apart from a goal unfairly denied to Bellingham for a non-existent foul on Ederson after half an hour of play, and a face to face between Haaland and the Brazilian, won by the latter (48th), City has also, too, well fulfilled his part of the contract defensively.

Offensively, it will be difficult to blame the Citizens for anything, despite the meager advantage before going to the Westfalenstadion.

The Catalan coach had opted for a system with Bernardo Silva in "faux-nine", where the permutations and percussions of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez or even Ilkay Gündogan had to create the shifts.

- Reus keeps hope alive-

A system that has worked very well for both purposes.

The opening of the scoring came from a ball recovered by Mahrez on the middle line and a fast counter passed by De Bruyne, Foden and again Mahrez had resulted in a retreat for the Belgian who had scored from close range (1- 0, 19th).

A fairly quick opening of the scoring which did not however make it that much easier for him, even if Foden (65th, 77th) had two good opportunities to overtake the mark.

And it is only fair that the 2-1 goal has returned to him.

After a bright opening from De Bruyne for Gündogan in the box, the German retreated to the young Englishman who only had to push the ball with a cross shot.

If this score reflects the physiognomy of the game, it leaves a fairly strong pressure on City, even if it is the first victory for City of Guardiola in a quarter-final first leg of C1.

After failing three years in a row at this stage of the competition, how the Catalan will approach the management of this meager return advantage will be a major unknown, he who has sometimes tended to attempt tactical bets that have fizzled out.

© 2021 AFP