City take firm control with resounding win at Dynamo Kiev
Manchester City spared the English Premier League's blushes Wednesday in Kiev, taking early control of their UEFA Champions League playoff round tie, then claiming a 3-1 first leg victory at the Olympic Stadium complex.
Sergio Aguero and David Silva gave City a commanding first half lead before Vitaly Buyalskiy and a revitalized Dynamo Kiev side responded in the second half, but Yaya Toure's stoppage time dagger makes the second leg in Manchester on March 15 look like a formality.
"It is an exceptional result away from home, we couldn't have hoped for better," Vincent Kompany told BT Sport after his side's victory. "The performance was good, a lot of high pressing and a lot of chances, but 3-1 is a good result, we're happy with it. We're not going to get carried away."
City became the first Premier League team to win in this Round of 16 after Chelsea and Arsenal had been defeated in their first leg games. It could be the perfect filip for Manuel Pellegrini's team which plays Liverpool Sunday in the Capital One League Cup final to complete a week of high profile games that had begun when a shadow City side was drummed out of the FA Cup by Chelsea on Sunday.
Pellegrini's side will certainly be favored to reach the quarterfinals after this start on the road, but their split personality was revealed again. As good as they were for long stretches, there were the too usual signs of defensive uncertainty; the inability to make their initial superiority concrete in the second half lasted until Toure's curling shot made the scoreline reflect their superiority.
Showing much more energy than in some recent outings, City dominated that opening half with high pressure tactics that made the home struggle and look very much like a side whose last competitive game had been on Dec. 9.
The midfield was active, both Fernando and Fernandinho harassing Kiev's attempts to clear and create, pushing Dynamo back and enabling City to build with speed and precision. The two first half goals were deserved reward, Aguero scoring the first and setting up the second.
It took 15 minutes for City to get on top, Aguero powerfully finishing from inside the box after a Silva corner was knocked down into his path by Toure. The second came five minutes before the break after Aguero did extremely well to control a long ball from the halfway line, nestling it on his foot before dropping a pass for Raheem Sterling.
Sterling took a stride forward, then split the defense with his cross from the left that Silva hammered into the roof of the net at the far post.
Dynamo sent Junior Moraes on to start the second half and immediately looked a different side. His presence made the attack more fluid and, coupled with a more aggressive approach, the home team pulled one back in the 58th minute from a situation that did not look that menacing.
Buyalskiy will claim the goal but Joe Hart can argue that he might have covered the drive from 18 yards had it not taken a wicked deflection off the body of Nicolas Otamendi. It was the unfortunate Otamendi who headed out Domagoj Vida's hopeful ball only to have it fall to the shooter; when he moved to block down the shot, the ball caught the City defender and spun away past Hart to the left corner.
Hart later had to sprawl full length to one-hand a Buyalskiy shot away as Dynamo continued to look a more confident, dangerous side down the stretch of an increasingly open match without being able to completely overturn their first half deficit.
Then, after a series of passes seemed to lull the Dynamo defense as it appeared City was happy to kill time, Fernandinho set up Toure to drift to his left before picking the top corner and probably securing a quarterfinal spot for City.
"Before the game I saw the players and they were nervous, and they can feel that on the pitch, especially when City created lots of chances, scored the goal," Kiev manager Sergei Rebrov told reporters following his side's loss. "Then we lost confidence a little bit.
"I hoped we could fight back, but with this Manchester City team we have to be very careful of the counter-attack."
Information from FOXSoccer.com's newswire services contributed to this report.
