Mahrez and Foden scored two goals in the second half to cancel out Bellingham’s early strike.
Manchester City came from behind to outsmart Dortmund 2-1 ( 4-2 on aggregate) in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, thus progressing to the last four of the competition.
Perhaps, City dealt an early blow after Jude Bellingham’s strike found the back of the nets and the scoreline was 2-2 on aggregate, with the Germans having the advantage with an away goal they scored in the first leg.
Man City were unfortunate to find the equaliser as Kevin De Bruyne was denied by the woodwork in the first half.
However, Pep Guardiola’s side got back into the game after Emre Can’s handball at the start of the second half, which ended up as a penalty. After VAR intervention, referee Carlos del Cerro Grande stood by the penalty decision. Riyad Mahrez was spotless from the spot to get City back on level terms.
From that strike, the pendulum started to swing in City’s way as Dortmund looked as if they were lacking confidence.
City put the game beyond Die Borussen’s reach after Phil Foden, who scored the decisive goal in the home leg, fired in another thunderous strike from long range to make it 2-1.
City finally managed to end their hoodoo in the European competitions, qualifying for the semis for the first time under Guardiola.
Dortmund, who were lively in the first half, couldn’t replicate the similar performance after the break while in-form striker Erling Haaland was kept at bay by Citizens.
Foden- the youngster who is made for big games
Phil Foden’s progress at City continues to be an unfaltering one and tonight he showed once again that he is a player made for big games.
Having scored the winning goal in the first leg at Etihad, the 20-year-old scored another big goal in the second leg to help his side go through the next round. After tonight’s strike against Dortmund, his goal tally has moved to 8 goals in Premier League and Champions League combined, adding to it 5 assists.
Phil Foden is only the second player aged younger than 21 to score in both legs of a UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie, after Kylian Mbappe in 2016/17 for Monaco against Borussia Dortmund (18). [Opta] #BVBMCI#UCL
Phil Foden has scored back-to-back winners in Champions League ties for his boyhood team
Statistics and Reactions – Dortmund vs Man City
It is the semi-finals of the Champions League, so we cannot expect it to be anything other than tough; for the second time in our history, we are there with the real elites in Europe.
pep Guardiola, Man. City manager, on meeting PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino again in Semi-finals after 2019
On the whole we played okay, but in the end that doesn’t really help us. We can still be proud of ourselves. We played against perhaps the best team in the world and we saw that we were able to keep up. It is still painful to be eliminated here because we had the chance to advance.
Emre Can, Dortmund midfielder:
I don’t think we can take any solace from our performances because we lost the tie. We’ve lost both games. Manchester City were definitely the better side. Congratulations to them they were brilliant. We’re can’t celebrate pushing a team close, but we can be proud of our performances and what we gave to the tie.
Jude Bellingham, Dortmund midfielder
After quarter-final defeats in 2018, 2019 and 2020, Manchester city under Pep Guardiola, have finally reached a semi-finals of UEFA Champions League in 2021.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola has reached his 8th Champions League semi-final! Just the second manager to do so alongside Jose Mourinho
Line-ups
Borussia Dortmund
Marwin Hitz, Raphaël Guerreiro, Mats Hummels, Manuel Akanji, Mateu Morey, Mahmoud Dahoud, Emre Can, Jude Bellingham, Marco Reus, Erling Haaland, Ansgar Knauff
Substitutes
Roman Bürki, Stefan Drljača, Thomas Meunier, Łukasz Piszczek, Nico Schulz, Giovanni Reyna, Felix Passlack, Tobias Raschl, Reinier, Julian Brandt, Steffen Tigges, Thorgan Hazard
Manchester City
Ederson, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Rúben Dias, John Stones, Kyle Walker, İlkay Gündoğan, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez
Substitutes
Zack Steffen, James Trafford, Eric García, Nathan Aké, João Cancelo, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Fernandinho, Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling
