In the second leg of the Champions League round of 16, Manchester City will host Denmark's Copenhagen, which is a game with little suspense, and it will not be difficult for Manchester City to advance to the quarterfinals. At the moment, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have qualified, and Real Madrid and Manchester City are expected to be the next two teams to appear in the last eight.
City won the first leg comfortably on the road, with Kevin De Bruyne opening the scoring from a recent return, and although they were once equalised, goals from Silva and Phil Foden gave City a two-goal lead. After returning to home, even if they lose by a small goal, the qualification for promotion belongs to Manchester City.
Copenhagen's recent form has been average, with a defeat to Middilant away in a league game just ended, which not only sent the opponent to the top of the table, but also dropped to third in the table. Manchester City, on the other hand, have been in excellent form, unbeaten in 19 games since losing to Aston Villa in early December, and have won nine of their 10 Premier League games, just one point behind Liverpool at the top of the table.
The referee for this match is Escos from Norway, including Haaland and Bob, Manchester City has two Norwegian players, and Copenhagen also has a number of Norwegian players, and there will be an interesting Norwegian "derby" on the field. Eskos is in charge of Manchester City for the first time, but has already been to Manchester this season, officiating Manchester United's home defeat to Bayern Munich and Real Madrid's Champions League win over Union Berlin.
It should be noted that Manchester City, after beating Manchester United a few days ago, will face another formidable opponent Liverpool this weekend, in the "battle of the kings" of the Premier League champions. It is worth paying attention to whether Manchester City will have reservations and wait for Liverpool's challenge when they have the lead in the Champions League.
Manchester City has performed quite well in the Champions League in recent years, reaching the quarter-finals for six consecutive years. Last season, Manchester City won the Champions League for the first time in their history, as well as a treble that included the Premier League and FA Cup. In the previous two seasons, they were eliminated by Real Madrid in the semi-finals and beaten by Chelsea in the final, and they were both one step away from the title.
The last time Manchester City failed to reach the quarter-finals was seven years ago. Interestingly, Manchester City also led by two goals in the first leg, with Sergio Aguero scoring twice to help his team beat Ligue 1 giants Monaco 5-3 at home. However, after coming to the away side, they lost to Monaco by two goals, and finally went out of the competition because of the lack of away goals. It is worth mentioning that Mbappe was still at Monaco at the time, scoring both home and away.
It is often said that there are no underdogs in the Champions League after entering the knockout rounds, and despite a two-goal lead, Manchester City cannot be careless. A few days ago, Manchester City showed their strength, and United led for almost 50 minutes thanks to Marcus Rashford's goal, but Pep Guardiola's side did not mess up and continued to play at their own pace in an orderly manner, with Foden becoming the key man. Manchester United was finally reversed, which can only be said to be inferior in strength, proving that Manchester City is the most stable team in Europe.
If Manchester City face Copenhagen and remain unbeaten, it will be the team's 20th consecutive game without a loss, which is a good sign for the title race. After winning the treble last year, Manchester City still have the chance to challenge for three titles this year.
If you count the Champions League, domestic league and cup competitions, Scotland Celtic were the first team in Europe to win the treble, and Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Manchester United achieved this feat in the last century. This century, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich have all achieved this goal, but no team can achieve the treble two years in a row.
Will Manchester City become the first team to defend the treble?
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