Rodri’s sensational curling strike helped secure a dominant 3-0 victory for Manchester City over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final showdown.
In an intriguing tactical battle between Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel, it was the Premier League side who produced a mouth-watering performance to put one foot in the semi-finals.
Bernando Silva’s impressive header punished an error from Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano to double City’s lead with 20 minutes to play and Erling Haaland made it three seven minutes later.
The result means City travel to Germany for the second leg on April 19 with a massive three-goal lead as they look to win the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
City had early chances via Haaland and Ilkay Gundogan and could have gone ahead when Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s panicked clearance almost proved costly, with the ball smashing into the Norwegian and flying across goal.
Guardiola’s side had another big chance midway through the first-half after some impressive attacking play from Jack Grealish – who moved inside to receive a pass just outside the area and flick the ball into Haaland’s path for a clean strike at goal – but he uncharacteristically fired it straight at Sommer.
City defender Ruben Dias then produced a crucial block to stop Bayern taking the lead after Leroy Sane’s cross found Jamal Musiala from 12 yards out.
But Rodri produced a moment of magic on 28 minutes with a sensational curling strike from 25 yards after turning his marker in what was his first goal in the Champions League to open the scoring and spark huge celebrations at the Etihad.
It could have got even better for City in the first half were it not for Sommer producing a remarkable save to make up for his earlier error as the Switzerland international stuck out a leg on the floor to stop Gundogan scoring a certain goal.
Bayern started the second half strongly with Ederson twice blocking shots from former City winger Sane within the first five minutes of the restart but the home side could have doubled their lead when the German champions made a mess of an attempted back pass, only for Joshua Kimmich to block Haaland’s effort.
Bayern could have pulled level through Sane but Ederson palmed clear a dangerous shot from 30 yards before Nathan Ake and Dias both produced blocks inside the six-yard box as Tuchel’s side got closer to a potential equaliser.
Sommer was then forced to make saves from Grealish and Dias, though, somehow tipping the latter’s shot over the crossbar as the game approached the hour mark.
Upamecano then made a glaring error with 20 minutes of normal time left, losing the ball under pressure from Grealish who produced a backheel for Haaland to play a clever cross which found Silva to head home for a 2-0 lead.
Things got worse for Bayern on 77 minutes with Haaland making it 3-0 after slotting home from 10 yards following some slopping defending from Tuchel’s men, as John Stones found his team-mate unmarked.
That made it 45 goals in all competitions for Haaland this season – more than any other Premier League player has ever managed as the records keep tumbling.
Sommer stopped City getting a fourth with three minutes to play, conjuring up an incredible one-handed save to stop Rodri’s header as it ended 3-0 on the night.
Meanwhile, in the other Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday, Inter Milan secured a 2-0 victory over Benfica away from home as Romelu Lukaku got on the scoresheet in a massive win for the Italian side in Portugal.
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