Manchester City v Borussia D, Getty Images 06 November 2025, 00:08

Among the extensive program on Wednesday evening as part of the fourth round of the UEFA Champions League, the confrontation at the Etihad between the English Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund, who had the same number of points after the three previous rounds, but the “bumblebees” at the same time managed to be distinguished by a productive game in all directions, which in general should have played in the hands of Josep’s team, clearly stood out among others. Guardiola.

However, Niko Kovača’s team tried to act more insidiously, and seized the initiative in the attack in the first minutes of the game on a foreign field. It was an interesting decision, but the Dortmunders did not have much profit from it, so they had to quickly change their attacking order and go to the defense, where the first tests were already waiting for them. In particular, in the form of three long-range shots by Foden, the last of which in that period at the 22nd minute turned into a handsome goal to be executed under the left post from the area in front of the penalty area.

This is how Manchester City laid the goal kick, and was able to develop it later. It happened in seven minutes, when the restless Doku opened the right flank of the other side’s defense with another rush to the front and rolled the ball to the center of the penalty area just under Holland’s shot. Erling once again did not celebrate a goal against his former team.

The rest of the playing time in the first half was less active, but still spent in attack, while the visitors were remembered for their attack only at the end, when Adeyemi’s shot from the right wing of the free-kick forced Donnarumma to seriously enter the game for the first time this evening. In the second half, there were more challenges for the Italian, but initially his team scored a third goal.

And here again in the 57th minute, Foden was given too much space in front of the free kick, so he put a well-aimed shot under the left post of the opponent’s goal. After a score of 0-3 against his team, Kovacs finally decided to make substitutions and hit four rotations at once, which helped shake his team. At the 72nd minute, Ryerson made a pass from the right wing to the near side, where Anton was the first to hit the ball. I was tempted by a potential comeback from a dead position, but this feeling evaporated quite quickly.

Because Guardiola also started to make his substitutions, and here everything was aimed at ensuring that Dortmund could no longer do anything to City in this game. It worked in the end – Kovacs’ team had no more scoring opportunities, but the home team was hungry for goals from Sherky, so he single-handedly created a goal with a shot from the half-circle in front of someone else’s penalty area at the beginning of stoppage time. All in all, a good warm-up for the Manchester club before the big game this weekend in the EPL.

In the next round, England’s Manchester City will host Bayer Leverkusen, while Borussia Dortmund will play at home to Spain’s Villarreal.

Borussia D: Kobel – Anton, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini (Ghan, 66) – Ryerson, Nmecha, Zabitzer (Gross, 67), Svensson – Adeyemi (F. Silva, 81), Bayer (Bellingham, 66) – Girassi (Chukwuemeka, 66).

Warning: Savio, O’Reilly — Svensson