Man City edge it over Dortmund, Liverpool slump at Real Madrid in CL

Berlin (dpa) – A late Phil Foden goal for Manchester City secured a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday while a Vinicius Junior double lifted Real Madrid 3-1 over Liverpool.

Foden guided an angled shot home from close-range after Ilkay Guendogan turned Kevin De Bruyne’s pass back to him in the 89th minute.

De Bruyne had struck the first-half opener for City, after a mistake from Emre Can, but Marco Reus levelled six minutes from time on a neat pass from Erling Haaland.

A superb pass from Toni Kroos set up Vinicius to break the deadlock for Real against Liverpool in a repeat of the 2018 final. Marco Asensio doubled the lead before half-time and though Mohamed Salah cut the deficit, Vinicius’ second put Real in control.

City’s hopes of quadruple title success this season are under threat but they will be confident of progressing in the German return on April 14. Liverpool have more to work to do in their Anfield second leg against 13-time record winners Real.

Holders Bayern Munich welcome Paris Saint-Germain, who they beat in last year’s final, on Wednesday when Porto also host Chelsea to conclude the first legs.

Dortmund’s 20-year-old striking star Haaland had the chance to impress one of his many suitors but fluffed his lines with his only sight of goal, struck straight at Ederson after the restart.

That would have levelled De Bruyne’s 19th minute opener, turned in from Riyad Mahrez’s cut-back, in a move which started with a poor giveaway from Can.

But Haaland did play a pivotal role in the equalizer, guiding a pass from Jude Bellingham through the defence for the recently criticized Reus to score his first goal since December.

“We’re annoyed,” captain Reus told DAZN. “Conceding a second right before the end was unnecessary.” But he also added “we produced a great performance,” having lost a crucial domestic game at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday when Reus reacted angrily to being substituted.

Germany’s Can was let off when a penalty conceded for a foul on Rodri was overturned by video review (VAR).

Dortmund were also left cursing the referee blowing a foul too early when Bellingham robbed Ederson outside the box meaning VAR could not award the goal.

Dortmund – fifth in the Bundesliga and in danger of missing the elite tournament next season – stayed alive but Foden gave City the Premier League leaders the advantage.

“The season in September started this way and never stopped,” De Bruyne told BT Sport. “It has been an incredible run of games, the team has responded well to the challenge this year.

“We are in a good situation and a little bit privileged because we are able to compete for every trophy.”

Real beat Liverpool 3-1 in Kiev three years ago to lift the trophy for the last time and repeated the score against the 2019 winners at their Alfredo Di Stefano training ground.

“It was a good game for us, especially the first half,” said Real keeper Thibaut Courtois. “It’s a good position for us now but we know Anfield is always a hard place to go.”

A stunning long pass from Kroos released Vinicius to chest and fire home in the 27th minute and Asensio pounced on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s misplaced header to score nine minutes later.

“If you want to go to the semi-finals, you have to earn the right to do so,” said Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp. “The only good thing I can say, apart from the goal, is it’s only the first half of the tie.”

Liverpool were poor enough for Klopp to remove Naby Keita for Thiago in the 42nd minute and his anger would have eased when Salah converted a shot deflected into his path in the 48th.

Suddenly Liverpool were on top and Real, without various injured defenders including Sergio Ramos, on the ropes but Vinicius’ smart finish from Luka Modric’s pass in the 65th gave the hosts breathing space.