Man City nip Atleti; Liverpool roll over Benfica

Sports Desk, Apr 5 (EFE).- Atletico Madrid held mighty Manchester City to one goal Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal and though Pep Guardiola’s men were winners on the night, Diego Simeone and his charges will be looking forward to next week’s decisive clash in Madrid City’s domestic rivals, Liverpool, topped Benfica 3-1 to take a commanding lead in their tie.

Less than three weeks after shutting out Man United at Old Trafford to reach the last eight, Atleti made their first-ever visit to the Etihad for the duel with last year’s Champions League runners-up.

Atletico, the reigning LaLiga champions, have been shockingly poor at the back on several occasions this season, but City found them almost impenetrable.

While the Colchoneros would end the game with 29 percent possession and zero shots, they limited City to two shots on target and kept the hosts off the scoreboard until the 70th minute, when Kevin de Bruyne scored with a tremendous assist from late sub Phil Foden.

In Lisbon, Liverpool led 2-0 at half-time on goals by Ibrahima Konate and Sadio Mane and arguably should have had more in light of their dominance.

Four minutes into the second half, a blunder by Konate allowed Darwin Nuñez to pull back a goal for the hosts and bring the crowd back into the contest.

Benfica looked dangerous for a spell, but Reds goalkeeper Alisson dealt with their best chance, a shot by Everton, and Luis Diaz sealed the victory with a goal in the 87th minute. EFE msg-pfm/dr