MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester City advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals despite suffering their first home defeat in over a year, going through 5-2 on aggregate after a 2-1 defeat by Swiss champions Basel on Wednesday.
City won the first leg 4-0 and unsurprisingly their manager Pep Guardiola chose to leave key players on the bench with none of Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero or goalkeeper Ederson featuring in the game.
The evening began positively for Pep Guardiola’s side, unbeaten in their last 12 Champions League home matches, when Brazilian Gabriel Jesus put them ahead in the eighth minute.
German winger Leroy Sane danced through the Basel defence and set up Bernardo Silva whose low cross was tapped in by the Brazilian forward for his first goal since November.
Basel, backed by an impressively vocal travelling support, were clearly determined to restore pride, though, and they drew level nine minutes later when Mohamed Elyounoussi buried the ball in the bottom corner from just inside the area.
Runaway Premier League leaders City were content to play their trademark possession football but Basel’s endeavours were rewarded in the 72nd minute when, after excellent work from Elyounoussi, Michael Lang blasted past Claudio Bravo at the near post.
City’s last home defeat came in December, 2016 against Chelsea.
Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Ed Osmond.
