Manchester City eased their way into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 3-1 victory over Copenhagen to secure a 6-2 aggregate win, while Real Madrid scraped through with a 1-1 draw against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night.
Goals from Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez inside the first nine minutes of the match ended any threat of a shock and though Mohamed Elyounoussi pulled one back for Copenhagen, Erling Haaland scored his inevitable goal before the half was out.
City manager, Pep Guardiola, left Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden on the bench, withdrawing Rodri at half-time – an indication that the holders fancied that the job had been all but done in Denmark.
They go into the Premier League title clash with Liverpool on Sunday in a good shape.
“We scored early on. We knew it, this game is just who scored. We were lucky to do it with a corner and Julian. Next round and still we are there in this competition,” Guardiola told reporters after the game.
Bayern Munich, PSG win to reach Champions League quarter-finals
Real Madrid, however, scraped through into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 1-1 second-leg draw against RB Leipzig on Wednesday, progressing 2-1 on aggregate.
The record 14-time champions were far below their best but did just enough over the two legs of the last-16 clash to edge out their Bundesliga opponents.
Despite Leipzig shading the game, Vinicius Junior opened the scoring in the 65th minute after being set up well by Jude Bellingham.
Willi Orban quickly levelled for the visitors but they could not find a second goal to force extra-time at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti, said his team suffered and did not approach the game well mentally.
Ancelotti said: “We played badly, with little intensity, with worries. The psychological aspect conditioned our game a lot.
“We played against an opponent with quality, who had nothing to lose, and we had the brakes on from start to finish – we suffered, but the important thing was to get to the quarter-finals.”
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