Man City whip Bayern 3-0; Inter take 2-0 advantage over Benfica
Sports Desk, Apr 11 (EFE).- Manchester City dominated Bayern Munich 3-0 Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal, while an Inter Milan side that has been struggling in Serie A posted a solid 2-0 win over Benfica.
With only 44 percent possession, hosts City had nine shots on target to just four for the visitors, who would have been embarrassed if not for some heroics from goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Another City match, another milestone for Erling Haaland, who boosted his goal total for all competitions to 45, a new record for a Premier League player in a single season.
Rodri opened the scoring in the 27th minute, beating Sommer with a spectacular effort from distance, and the Bayern keeper had to come up with an outstanding save to stop Ilkay Gündogan from doubling the advantage in the 34th.
Former City man Leroy Sane forced home goalkeeper Ederson into action twice inside the first five minutes of the second half.
At the other end, a miscommunication between Sommer and defender Dayot Upamecano left Kevin de Bruyne poised to make it 2-0 in the 50th minute until Joshua Kimmich came to the keeper’s rescue with a block.
Sane tested Ederson again a few minutes later and Sommer denied Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias before conceding to Bernardo Silva in the 70th minute.
Haaland got his goal in the 76th minute to put City well on the way to winning the tie.
Inter were winless in their last six outings in all competitions ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Benfica in Lisbon, but the Nerazzurri did not look like a team on the decline.
The visitors took a cautious approach and the only real scoring chance of the first half fell to Benfica’s Rafa, who fired the ball into the arms of keeper Andre Onana.
Nicolo Barella put Inter ahead six minutes into the second half, heading in a cross from Alessandro Bastoni.
Benfica tried to respond, but Odysseas Vlachodimos would have a busier final 30 minutes than Onana, producing two fine stops before conceding to Romelu Lukaku from the penalty spot in the 82nd minute.
EFE msg-mc/dr
