De Bruyne leads Manchester City to a difficult victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League
Belgian star Kevin De Bruyne led his Manchester City team to a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
De Bruyne scored the only goal of the match for Manchester City in the 70th minute.
The two teams meet again in the second leg of the same round next Wednesday, 13 April.
And the first quarter of an hour passed amid pressure from Manchester City, whose coach chose the attack with the trio of Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva and Rahim Sterling, but he faced defensive solidity from Atletico Madrid led by goalkeeper Jan Oblak, and in front of him was a defensive trio that includes Stefan Savic, Felipe Augusto and Reneldo Mandava.
Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan hit a shot from outside the penalty area in the 21st minute, but his ball crossed Oblak's crossbar.
On the other hand, Atletico Madrid's reliance on counter-attacks against Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson, relying on midfielder Koke and Joao Felix in front of him, but City's defense managed to control the situation and prevented any danger to his goal.
Over time, fatigue dominated the Manchester City stars, who made a great effort in their attempts to penetrate the Atletico Madrid defense, while the latter seemed more active in the last ten minutes of the first half.
Defender John Stones tried to shoot a ball from outside the Atletico Madrid penalty area, but his ball came over the goalkeeper Oblak's crossbar in the 42nd minute.
The rest of the first half minutes did not witness anything new, so the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game, with a goalless draw.
Five minutes after the start of the second half, Atletico Madrid players Antoine Griezmann and Marcos Llorente exchanged the ball between themselves, until it reached Llorente on the edge of the penalty area, but his shot was easily caught by goalkeeper Ederson.
In the 54th minute, Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved his own goal, after he blocked a powerful and accurate shot from De Bruyne from a direct free kick, twice.
Defender Aymeric Laporte of Manchester City missed the opportunity to score the goal in the 63rd minute, when he headed a header towards Oblak's goal, but his ball hit the outer net of Atletico Madrid.
In the 70th minute, Manchester City managed to score the first goal, through De Bruyne, who received a superb pass from substitute Phil Foden, to start in the middle of the Atletico defense from the left side of the goal, and hit a ball to the right of Oblak to shake the Spanish team's net.
The opportunity to add the second goal for Manchester City was missed in the 79th minute, when Foden penetrated from the left side of the Atletico Madrid defense, evading more than one player, to pass to De Bruyne, who hit the floor, but the defense dispersed it in front of the goal line.
The last minutes of the match witnessed attempts by Atlético Madrid to score the equalizer, but to no avail, so the referee blew the whistle at the end of the second half and the match with Manchester City winning 1-0.
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