Manchester City skipper, Vincent Kompany didn’t play in the hard-fought second-leg encounter with French Champions, Paris Saint Germain on Tuesday. Before the game, analysts and fans were wary of the ever-attacking French giant.
In-form strikers in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edison Cavani and Di Maria aside a strong midfield set the team up for victory but a goal from Kelvin De Bruyne sent City to the semi-final.
The first leg draw in Paris last week was the first blow to the hopes of the PSG team as they looked to gaining an early advantage with a home win. Lots of defensive errors left the game to end with the 2-2 score line.
Joe Hart saved Manchester city through the encounter on Tuesday with the powerful saves he made to counter the goal scoring attempts by the French squad. Quite notable was a ferocious strike by Swede striker, Ibrahimovic. The 34-year old striker sent a goal-bound free kick which the goal stopper clawed to safety.
Sergio Aguero had missed a penalty kick in the first half but the strike form De Bruyne 15 minutes from the end saved the EPL giants.
Vincent Kompany trained with the rest of the squad on Monday but the manger of The Sky Blues, Manuel Pellegrini, said the defender would not be able to play as he lost the fitness battle. The announcement dampened the spirit in the team as they feared for the attacking prowess of the French.
In the pre-match conference, Pellegrini said: “Vincent is not possible. He is not 100 per cent. I trust 100 per cent in the players who will play.”
He said he hoped for attacking football from his team but has no problem with City’s fans booing the UEFA Champions League anthem as they tend to do before kick-off.
“It depends if you are superstitious. If you are superstitious, we continue winning if they boo the anthem. They boo at the beginning but afterwards they are always supporting our team so I don’t have any complaints about our fans.”