adminHE has already been replaced as manager, but Manuel Pellegrini is not going down without a fight as his Manchester City side made history by qualifying for the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time ever on Tuesday night. Pellegrini will make way for Pep Guardiola in the summer, but what a statement won’t he make if he pulls off a Champions League triumph to go out in a blaze of glory.
While the English Premier League is probably a long shot – fourth-placed City are 12 points behind Leicester with nine games to go – there is no reason why the “noisy neighbours” of Manchester United can’t go all the way in the world’s ultimate club competition.
Having already secured a memorable 3-1 win in the first leg in Ukraine, City needed to just get through Tuesday night’s last-16 second leg at the Etihad Stadium, and they did that comfortably enough in the opening 45 minutes.
But Pellegrini had a crisis as he lost both centre backs – captain Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi – to injury in the opening 23 minutes, although the City defence held firm until the break.
City seemed happy to bide their time and wind the clock down, but sprung into life on the hour-mark
Jesus Navas hit the upright with a rasping shot, but the rebound was deflected for a corner that came to nought.
That woke up Kiev, who had 30 minutes left to save their Champions League campaign. Two minutes after Navas’ effort, top marksman Andriy Jarmolenko was released into space and let rip with his left foot, but he didn’t strike the ball cleanly and the tame attempt went straight into City goalkeeper Joe Hart’s arms.
Pellegrini pushed his team forward and there were half-chances for Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero, but the home side never quite found their range on the night.
Jarmolenko had two further late opportunities in the last five minutes, but the inspirational.
Hart commanded his penalty area to keep the most vital clean-sheet of the season to secure City’s passage into the last-eight.
Meanwhile, there were no goals at all after extra time in the other last-16 clash concluded on Tuesday night, and it required Atletico Madrid to go to penalties to get past PSV Eindhoven in Spain.
Even the shootout went according to plan for both teams until unfortunate PSV midfielder Luciano Narsingh blasted his penalty against the crossbar, and veteran Juanfran finished things off .
Atletico at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in the Spanish capital.
City and Atletico join Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica and Wolfsburg in the quarter-finals, with the last two places to be determined on Wednesday.
Arsenal are facing an uphill battle as they will travel to Spain to take on Barcelona at the Nou Camp after losing the first leg 2-0 in London.
Bayern Munich host Juventus in Germany, with the tie still up in the air following a 2-2 stalemate in the first leg in Turin. —The Star
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