Manchester City defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday, thanks to Kevin De Bruyne's goal.
After a tense 70 minutes, City finally broke through Atletico's tenacious defense, aided by Phil Foden's vision. Foden slid in a fine throughball and De Bruyne raced through to fire in a low shot from a tight angle just 79 seconds after coming off the bench.
The first half was played at a slow pace, with City controlling the majority of the ball but failing to create chances despite having all of its outfield players in the final third at times.
De Bruyne and Joao Cancelo both had efforts deflected wide, and Aymeric Laporte's header was off target.
Ilkay Gundogan shot wide, and Rodri had a long-range effort blocked before De Bruyne's penalty appeal was denied, and John Stones also missed.
It wasn't until the second half that the hosts attempted to speed up their play. That did loosen up the game slightly, and Atletico almost capitalized with a couple of deep breaks. Antoine Griezmann squandered one chance with a poor pass, and Marcos Llorente chipped a tame shot at goalkeeper Ederson from another.
City, on the other hand, began to threaten more, with Gundogan's effort deflected wide and Laporte coming close with a header.
City appealed another penalty for Reinildo's push on Sterling, but it was denied. Sterling's involvement ended there, as manager Pep Guardiola substituted him in the game-changing move.
De Bruyne was set up for the goal by Foden, who came on in place of Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus.
Following a tricky run to the byline, Foden created another chance for De Bruyne, but this time Atletico had enough players back to block it.
