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City best PSG, de Bruyne makes difference

Mark HallamApril 13, 2016

Kevin de Bruyne curled in the winner late in a cagey second leg between City and PSG - taking the Citizens to their first ever Champions League semifinal. The Parisians may well rue the lead that got away at home.

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Fußball Champions League Manchester City v Paris St Germain Kevin De Bruyne
Image: Reuters/A. Yates

Manchester City 1 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain (Aggregate: City 3 - 2 PSG)
(de Bruyne '76)

While the Bernabéu proved a bridge too far for his former club Wolfsburg, Kevin de Bruyne fired Manchester City into the final four for the first time since the tournament took up its current name. The Belgian, a key recent returnee from injury for City, put a curled shot beyond Kevin Trapp's reach in the PSG goal with 14 minutes left on the clock.

As it stood, goalless after a 2-2 draw in Paris, where the hosts made several defensive errors and missed a penalty, City were already on course to proceed on the away goals rule, but de Bruyne's strike sealed the deal.

Fußball Champions League Manchester City v Paris St Germain Kevin De Bruyne
De Bruyne's placed shot avoided the defenders and was beyond Trapp's reachImage: Reuters/J. Cairnduff

In the first half, City spurned several chances to open up an earlier lead. Sergio Aguero narrowly missed twice in the space of two minutes half way through the opening period, both times fed by de Bruyne while a David Silva cross took a dangerous deflection soon after, only to land in the side-netting.

Just before the half-hour mark, Aguero rounded Trapp in the box. Trapp brought him down, prompting a penalty and a yellow card for the former Frankfurt keeper. Aguero got up to take his own penalty but mised the target altogether.

PSG were arguably at their most dangerous soon after the break, with City keeper Joe Hart fending off a Zlatan Ibrahimovic set piece after 48 minutes. Six minutes later, PSG's Lucas had the ball in the back of the net - but the assistant referee ruled the strike out. Replays revealed that Maxwell, who had provided the cross and was flagged offside, was in front of the back line when he was played through.

Fußball Champions League Manchester City v Paris St Germain Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Ibrahimovic forced saves out of Joe Hart, but couldn't deliverImage: Reuters/J. Cairnduff

After de Bruyne's goal, the hosts sat back and invited PSG - now needing two goals - to attack again. Edinson Cavani went through one-on-one with 10 minutes left on the clock but couldn't beat England international Joe Hart. After 86 minutes, Ibrahimovic netted PSG's second disallowed goal - heading home from an offside position.

Pep Guardiola's future club have no real respite in store, facing Chelsea in the Premier League this Saturday. The club is still scrambling to qualify for next year's Champions League. At least in theory, they could still manage this by winning the tournament itself. PSG, meanwhile, as runaway Ligue 1 leaders, are guaranteed a repeat berth next season.