Manchester City played out a 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final second leg at the Allianz Arena to set up a semi-final clash with holders Real Madrid.
After Bayern lost 3-0 in the first leg at the Etihad Stadium last week, the Bavarians needed nothing short of a miracle to overturn the result at home, but they could not as they wasted several chances to give themselves hope of a comeback.
And City’s inform hitman Erling Haaland punished the hosts in the 57th minute, firing the ball into the net following a swift counterattack from the Cityzens and this was 15 seconds after Kingsley Coman’s effort was saved by goalkeeper Ederson.
The goal was Haaland’s 48th of the season, and his 12th in Europe’s elite competition. The Norwegian could have reached that landmark earlier but his penalty went over the bar.
Midfielder Joshua Kimmich scored from the spot in the 83rd minute after the referee awarded Bayern a penalty because Sadio Mane’s strike mistakenly touched defender Manuel Akanji’s hand.
Thomas Tuchel was sent off after picking up two yellow cards and watched the rest of the game from the stands.
Pep Guardiola’s side were the better side over the two legs and deserved to go through as the German side lacked the cutting edge upfront.
'The second half was better '
Manchester City boss Guardiola told BT Sport: "Of course, three years in a row in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
"We struggled in the first half. Upamecano broke all the lines down our left side and we struggled with Coman. We were fortunate before the penalty miss, they had one or two chances and anything could happen but we defended really well.
"The finishing from Erling was really, really good. He is so young. The experience that we have in this competition, the players feel it a lot, they want to do it really well. The second half was much, much better since minute one.
"We are exhausted. I don't know how we recover to play against Sheffield United [in the FA Cup semi-final]. Now is a tough moment for the game on Saturday."
‘Man City working hard to bring some titles home’
Manchester City's Bernardo Silva added: "We struggled until February because we couldn't get in that usual run we had before of winning 10-15 games in a row but now we are very consistent, we feel we have a chance in every competition and we are going for them.
"We are at that point of the season where if you drop your performance in one game you are out of the competition. It is going to be tough but we are going to work very hard to bring some titles home.
"Building win after win, that confidence, it is very important and we need to keep it that way."
The Portuguese midfield maestro continued: "Erling (Haaland) is a special player, a different player to what we had in the past. He doesn't need many touches. He is like a shadow for 85 minutes and touches the ball once it is a goal. When we have that special player in attack it makes us feel more comfortable at the back."
Asked if it’ll be revenge against Real Madrid in the semifinal, he replied: "Hopefully yes! We will go for it definitely. We always go for it but we feel the team is very, very confident at the minute. I think we are going through."
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