FC Copenhagen 1-3 Manchester City: Pep Guardiola’s side claim first-leg win

Manchester City resumed their Champions League title defence with a comfortable victory at FC Copenhagen in the first leg of their last-16 tie.

But Ederson gifted the ball straight to Copenhagen with a poor clearance and Magnus Mattsson took full advantage with a fantastic strike.

Bernardo Silva put Manchester City ahead again just before half-time with a clever flick after a ball from De Bruyne deflected through to him.

De Bruyne and Erling Haaland had further chances to add to the lead after the break and, although City were not quite at their attacking best, they ensured they left with a two-goal cushion thanks to Phil Foden’s late strike.

Manchester City will host Copenhagen in the second leg on Wednesday, 6 March.

City avoid potential banana skin

This was Copenhagen’s first game in two months after football in Denmark was paused for a winter break but Guardiola had warned before the game that they would still not make things easy for his side.

The Danes had beaten Manchester United 4-3 at the Parken Stadium in the Champions League group stage back in November, and also held Manchester City to a goalless draw there in 2022.

Guardiola’s side started like a train, but while they failed to sustain that momentum they did have plenty of chances to win by a greater margin.

However, ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Kamil Grabara played a key role in limiting the visitors to two goals, making good saves to deny Ruben Dias early on and Jeremy Doku in the second half.

But in the closing stages, the visitors stepped it up again to ensure they got a healthy advantage for the second leg and secured it when Foden drove in from De Bruyne’s cutback.

Guardiola waits on Grealish injury

Manchester City’s early momentum was clearly disrupted by the early departure of Jack Grealish to injury.

The England forward was making his first start in six games but pulled up with what appeared to be a muscle injury after challenging for the ball with Diogo Goncalves.

Grealish, who missed three games in September with a hamstring injury, was then taken off in the 21st minute and City will be hoping the issue is not as bad as it initially looked.

Player of the match

De BruyneKevin De Bruyne

FC Copenhagen

1. Squad number26Player nameMcKenna

2. Squad number1Player nameGrabara

3. Squad number8Player nameMattsson

4. Squad number19Player nameJelert

5. Squad number3Player nameVavro

6. Squad number10Player nameElyounoussi

7. Squad number2Player nameDiks

8. Squad number7Player nameClaesson

9. Squad number33Player nameFalk

10. Squad number9Player nameDiogo Gonçalves

11. Squad number30Player nameAchouri

12. Squad number6Player nameSørensen

13. Squad number39Player nameHøjlund

14. Squad number11Player nameLarsson

15. Squad number14Player nameCornelius