Manchester City enjoyed an ideal warm-up ahead of their crucial Premier League clash with Liverpool on Sunday, comfortably defeating Copenhagen to secure a spot in the Champions League quarter-finals for the seventh consecutive season.
With a two-goal advantage from the first leg in Copenhagen three weeks earlier, any hopes of an upset were dashed within the opening nine minutes as Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez found the back of the net.
Erling Haaland joined the top of the tournament scoring charts alongside Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, notching his sixth goal of the campaign – and 29th in all competitions – as City added a third before half-time, despite the visitors pulling one back.
Haaland’s recent form, scoring in three successive games for the first time since October, is encouraging news for City manager Pep Guardiola ahead of the clash at Anfield.
Next round of the knockouts: secured! πͺπ pic.twitter.com/vwt8TTGQpF
β Manchester City (@ManCity) March 6, 2024
Guardiola had insisted he wouldn’t focus on Liverpool until after the Copenhagen match. However, his statement was contradicted by the seven changes he made to the team that defeated Manchester United over the weekend, and by substituting key player Rodri at half-time.
Nevertheless, City’s performance was unaffected by the alterations. Their run of successive Champions League quarter-final appearances is the longest among current clubs. The only English club to have achieved a better record in the competition is Manchester United, who reached the last eight in seven consecutive seasons from 1996-97 to 2002-03.
Another #UCL victory secured! π«‘
Letβs head over to the Matchday Live crew for all the reaction! π https://t.co/w4rZ7KSsUG
β Manchester City (@ManCity) March 6, 2024