Man City’s Kevin de Bruyne has described their quarter finals first leg home match against Atletico Madrid as a tough one.
He believes the return match away will also be tough but he is consoled that they are ahead even if by the only goal he got for his team.
“We have to stay composed. 1-0 is 1-0. I expect a similar game over there. If the game is tight they will have to attack a little bit more,” he said after the match.
The Belgian scored in the 70th minute against Atletico Madrid who had ousted Manchester United in the previous round and can still reverse matters at home on April 13.
The other two first leg matches in the Champions League are billed for Wednesday, with holders Chelsea versus record 13-time winners Real Madrid and Villarreal versus Bayern Munich.
As expected, last year’s runners-up Manchester City dominated possession at the Etihad but lacked ideas against Atletico Madrid who defended deep with a five-man backline.
The game came to life after the break when Ilkay Gündogan had a curling shot deflected and Aymeric Laporte headed inches high in the 62nd minute.
De Bruyne finally broke the deadlock with 20 minutes left for Pep Guardiola’s side with a low shot into the far left corner off a pass from the lively substitute Phil Foden.
Stefan Savic denied De Bruyne a second 10 minutes later by clearing his shot in front of the goalline.
It left the team of Diego Simeone —— who left without a handshake with Guardiola —— still well-placed to turn around matters at the Wanda Metropolitano.
“Phil found me perfectly, I just needed to stay composed and luckily I did,” De Bruyne later said of his goal.
“It was a very hard game. The first half was tight. In the second half we had a couple of chances and it was good that we took one.”
