City hold edge over Dortmund; Vinicius brace puts Real on top

Phil Foden struck a 90th minute winner as Manchester City took a slender 2-1 lead from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday.

Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring on 19 minutes for the runaway Premier League leaders, but Dortmund grabbed a vital away goal when Erling Haaland teed up Marco Reus to equalise six minutes from time.

Foden had missed a series of chances to double City’s lead earlier in the second-half, but made amends at the death to give Pep Guardiola’s men the advantage with the second leg to come in Germany on April 14.

City have failed to get beyond the last eight in their previous four seasons under Guardiola and once again struggled to replicate their scintillating Premier League form on the European stage.

The English side were overwhelming favourites before a ball was kicked against a Dortmund side that has fallen seven points adrift of the top four in the Bundesliga.

By contrast, City men have now won 27 of their last 28 games in all competitions to remain on course for a historic quadruple of Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.

But the hosts had to ride their luck to take a narrow advantage to Germany next week.

City remain fresh and ready to fight for the quadruple, said Foden after their Champions League quarter-final.

“It is really hard sometimes, mentally and in your legs as well, after coming back from internationals, but we have a lot of players in the squad that are fresh and ready to play,” said 20-year-old midfielder Foden.

“The manager is rotating and so we are ready and I think as a team we are doing brilliantly. We are fighting for everything we can and are going to fight until the end.”

City have now won 27 of their past 28 games in all competitions and remain on course for a historic sweep of the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.

But they have failed to get beyond the last eight in the Champions League in each of Pep Guardiola’s four previous seasons in charge and had to dig deep for their win against Dortmund.

“It was a relief,” he said. “We had a lot of chances but in the end I’m just happy to score and help the team in a crucial time.

“But of course they are a great team. They are going to have spells where they have the ball as well and it is going to be a really interesting game in the second leg.

“They’re brilliant – a lot of young players, energetic. They can be in the box with three passes so they are very dangerous. We’ll have to stay focused for the full 90.”

Before next Wednesday’s trip to Dortmund, City host Leeds on Saturday, looking to take another step towards their third Premier League title in four years.

VINICIUS PUTS REAL ON TOP: Vinicius Junior scored twice as Real Madrid made Liverpool pay for more defensive errors on Tuesday, a 3-1 victory putting them in sight of the Champions League semi-finals.

Vinicius and Marco Asensio both profited in the first half after darting behind Liverpool’s makeshift back-line before a simple move from a throw-in gave Vinicius a simple finish in the second.

Mohamed Salah’s strike shortly after the interval briefly made it a contest at Valdebebas, with an away goal certainly a significant consolation for Liverpool to take into the second leg at Anfield next week.

But without fans and with a miserable recent record at home, Jurgen Klopp will know his side have it all to do to avoid his team’s season becoming solely about scraping into the Premier League’s top four.

“We didn’t play well enough, that’s my first concern,” said Klopp. “We didn’t deserve to win tonight, but the good news is that there is another match.

“We are going to fight, 3-1 is not good, but we have a chance.”

Except for two spells after half-time and at the finish, when their opponents were holding on to what they had, Liverpool were overpowered by Real Madrid, whose only disappointment might be missing out on a clearer margin ahead of the return in eight days’ time.

Before then, they go up against Barcelona on Saturday and this result, their fifth consecutive victory, should be another huge boost to morale going into what will be a crucial fixture in La Liga’s title race.

“Nothing is close, nothing is won,” Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “We are alive in two competitions and we will keep fighting. We will start the second leg like it’s 0-0 because it will be another very difficult game.”

Madrid were without Sergio Ramos, who throughout was bellowing at his team from the stands, while Raphael Varane testing positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday morning meant both sides were fielding patched-up back fours.