Manchester City beats Fulham and guarantees place in the Champions League
Belgian midfielder comes on late to play his last game for the English club; Gündogan and Haaland scored the goals
Victory and confirmed place in the Champions League!
Manchester City beat Fulham 2-0 away on Sunday afternoon in the final round of the Premier League. With the victory, Pep Guardiola’s team finished the championship with 71 points, in third place, and secured a place in the next edition of the Champions League. Fulham finished their participation in the tournament in 11th place, with 54 points. The goals of the game were scored by Gündogan and Haaland.
Farewell to an idol
The match also marked the final chapter of Kevin de Bruyne’s successful spell with Manchester City. The Belgian star came on in the final minutes of the match in place of Gündogan to write the final page of more than ten years at the English club. De Bruyne arrived at City in August 2015, when the English club paid around £52 million (R$286.85 million at the exchange rate at the time) to Wolfsburg, in Germany. Since then, the midfielder has been one of the team’s standout players over the past 10 years.
First half
The first half at Craven Cottage was dominated by Manchester City, who accumulated chances and could have gone into the dressing room with an even bigger advantage. Pep Guardiola’s team showed quality on both sides. Doku tormented the defense on the left, and Matheus Nunes and Marmoush made good combinations on the right. The goal seemed only a matter of time until, in the 20th minute, Gündogan took advantage of a rebound from Nunes’ chipped shot and finished with style, with a bicycle kick, to open the scoring. Previously practically harmless on the field, Fulham began to find their feet in the match after 25 minutes and also had some good chances. The best ones came with a shot by Cairney, in the 35th minute; and by Andreas Pereira, in the 42nd minute. The first half ended with a back-and-forth game.
Second half
The second half was a little slower than the first half. Fulham had the clearest chance to equalize with a lob shot from Jiménez, after a mistake by Ederson, who came out of goal very poorly and ended up in the middle of the field, in the 20th minute. But, five minutes later, Lukic committed a silly penalty on Gündogan. From the penalty spot, Haaland displaced the goalkeeper and extended the lead for City, who controlled the action until the end and barely struggled to build the result at Craven Cottage. In the final minutes, the fans still had the opportunity to see De Bruyne for the last time in the sky blue shirt. The Belgian came on in the 39th minute, but had little time to effectively participate in the game. In the end, City won and secured a place in the Champions League.
Keeping an eye on the Club World Cup!
Manchester City will not return to action until June 18, for the first round of the Club World Cup, against Wydad Casablanca, in Philadelphia, United States. Pep Guardiola’s team is in Group G, which also includes Juventus and Al-Ain.
