By Lori Ewing
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -Manchester City kept their Champions League campaign alive as they scraped into the playoffs by beating Belgium’s Club Brugge 3-1 in a nervy must-win match on Wednesday thanks to goals from Mateo Kovacic and substitute Savinho, and a Brugge own goal.
The victory in their league-phase finale secured Pep Guardiola’s men a spot in the two-legged playoff knockout round, where they will face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid. They finished 22nd in the table, three places above elimination.
“In the second half we lifted our soul and our hearts were free,” relieved City boss Pep Guardiola told TNT Sports.
“For today we are in the next round, that’s good. The first half was so academic, we didn’t have the spark to do it against a team that defends really well.”
Brugge players and staff lingered on the pitch for several minutes with phones in hand, watching other results, before finally celebrating 24th place and a spot in the next round.
We try to push them every day. All the credit to the group,” Brugge manager Nicky Hayen said.
“We try to have a plan and they executed it as well as possible. We are quite happy we go to the next round. We are quite ambitious. This group wants to perform every day.”
Brugge, who were lightning quick on the counter-attack, punished City and stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd seconds before halftime when Ferran Jutgla easily beat Matheus Nunes before sending in a long cross that Raphael Onyedika smashed into the back of the net.
Guardiola slumped down in his seat in response.
Mateo Kovacic levelled in the 53rd minute when he dribbled through the heart of Brugge’s defence before unleashing a shot from the edge of the 18-yard box into the bottom corner.
City went ahead nine minutes later when Joel Ordonez slid to block Josko Gvardiol’s cross but knocked it into the net, and then Savinho added a third in the 77th minute when John Stones played a pinpoint cross-field ball that the Brazilian chested down before firing it past keeper Simon Mignolet.
‘NOT EASY’
“Every game in the Champions League is a tough one. We’re happy that we are through now, because it was a tough group stage; for us, was not easy,” Kovacic told TNT Sports. “That we are through is the most important, and then whoever comes next will be difficult.”
City, who hoisted the Champions League trophy in 2023 and have reached the knockout stage of Europe’s elite competition every season since Guardiola took the helm in 2016, paved the way for the nerve-jangling finale with a rocky couple of months that saw them win just three of the eight league-phase games.
Brugge, whose loss ended a 20-game unbeaten streak across all competitions, threatened from the whistle, putting City fans on tenterhooks and sending Guardiola into fits of frustration.
The visitors had a terrific chance in the opening minutes when Christos Tzolis pounced on a misunderstanding between Nunes and Manuel Akanji, dribbing half the length of the field before launching a shot.
Ilkay Gundogan had a goal for City chalked off for offside in the 16th minute.
City were better after the break, and Guardiola’s decision to bring on Savinho for the second half paid off. He was a key part of the move that led to Brugge’s own goal with his perfectly weighted pass that found Gvardiol.
Asked about Guardiola’s halftime team talk, Kovacic said: “It was good, because we came out very well. We knew we needed to step up.
“In the second half, we showed great character to win and go through. We have a good team and we came back from 1-0 down. We know we are a great team.”
A large fire broke out in a merchandise kiosk outside Etihad Stadium just as fans were making their way to the ground. Firefighters remained for 90 minutes to ensure it was extinguished.
A fitting start to a night that saw City narrowly avoid their season going up in flames.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Toby Davis and Pritha Sarkar)
