Kevin De Bruyne and Brahim Diaz were on the scoresheets (Picture: Getty)
Manchester City and Real Madrid were both victorious in the first legs of their respective Champions League last 16 ties on Tuesday.
European champions City produced a 3-1 win over FC Copenhagen in the Danish capital thanks to goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden.
Spanish giants Real, meanwhile, recorded a 1-0 victory at RB Leipzig with Brahim Diaz getting on the scoresheet.
City host Copenhagen in the second leg on March 6 while Bundesliga side Leipzig travel to the Bernabeu to face 14-time Champions League winners Real on the same night.
Pep Guardiola’s side got off to a strong start at the Parken Stadium and following big early chances for De Bruyne and Nathan Ake, the former handed his team the lead after just 10 minutes.
De Bruyne fired a low effort across goal and into the far corner from Foden’s impressive ball as City continued to dominate and struck the crossbar after Silva’s shot deflected off Denis Vavro.
The Danish champions stunned the treble winners, though, to level up the match before the break following a huge goalkeeping error from Ederson as Magnus Mattsson made it 1-1.
Bernardo Silva restored Man City’s lead just before the break (Picture: Getty)
The Premier League side restored their lead just before the break – as Silva flicked the ball into the far corner after it fell to him from a battle for possession between De Bruyne and Mattsson – and after the restart Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara was forced to make two key saves.
He produced a fine stop to deny De Bruyne from the edge of the area before brilliantly tipping Jeremy Doku’s effort around the post – but Foden wrapped up the victory in added time to take a 3-1 lead into the second leg.
Meanwhile, a Jude Bellingham-less Real Madrid got the edge over RB Leipzig in a tightly fought affair in the night’s other knockout game.
Brahim Diaz opened the scoring for Real Madrid in the 49th minute (Picture: Getty)
Leipzig were largely on top, creating many good chances, with Benjamin Sesko controversially having a goal disallowed inside two minutes after Benjamin Henrichs was deemed to be impeding goalkeeper Andriy Lunin from an offside position.
Real always looked dangerous, though, and took the lead of the tie shortly after the break when Diaz beat several defenders before curling an unstoppable effort into the top corner.
More Trending
The visitors failed to add to their advantage, however, with Vinicius Junior hitting the post while Diaz – brought in to replace the injured Bellingham – came off with a hamstring issue late on.
Leipzig, meanwhile, continued to put pressure on Lunin’s goal, forcing the Ukraine goalkeeper into several big saves to keep the tie on a knife edge.