Tune-up in Manchester before visiting the Santiago Bernabéu. True to his dominating style, Guardiola's City had fun at home at the expense of Leeds (2-1). Enjoying the first time. Exhausting it by the second. And ensuring one more day the leadership of the Premier League before facing the first leg of the semi-finals of the Champions League against Real Madrid. After Gündogan's brace, which allowed City to go two goals ahead at the break, it was pretty much all that was left to decide how long it would take Guardiola to sit De Bruyne and whether Håland would continue to extend his scoring streak. Neither happened. Recovered from the discomfort that prevented him from playing the last two games, De Bruyne completed the 90 minutes. And Håland did not score despite having up to five clear chances to score in which the ball hit either the woodwork or the fists and knee of goalkeeper Joel Robles. The Betis exporter was the big news in Sam Allardyce's debut on the bench of a Leeds team immersed in the agonizing fight for permanence. In exchange, and to give the match a bit of excitement, Robles saved a penalty from Gündogan and Rodrigo was able to shorten distances by marking the final 2-1.
Beyond Håland and De Bruyne, Guardiola lined up an unprecedented defense with Akanji, Laporte and Aké. He also rested Bernardo Silva and lined up Julián Álvarez. After several warnings from the Argentine and three more incursions from De Bruyne on the right, Gündogan's goals arrived. In the first, at twenty minutes, Mahrez made a cross close to the area that Gündogan caught with the inside of his right foot. And in the second, seven minutes later, Mahrez again assisted Gündogan, who scored coming from the second line.
Guardiola did not move the board until the 87th minute, when he called on Bernardo Silva, who replaced Julián Álvarez. Earlier there was a penalty for Strujik's clear foul on Foden. Gündogan took the ball to the detriment of Håland. Joel Robles quickly read his intentions. From a possible 3-0 it went to 2-1 by Rodrigo Moreno, who took advantage of an error in Akanji's defense to add excitement to the match. "You made it difficult for me at the end," Guardiola told Allardyce. But now he can think about Real Madrid.
