Mahrez leads Manchester City with a double in the Champions League final

Manchester City are fighting the Champions League final for the first time in the club’s history. After winning the first leg 2-1 in Paris, City also beat Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg, this time 2-0.

Riyad Mahrez scored the two goals in minutes 11 and 63. With 2-0 everything was decided, especially since Angel Di Maria was disqualified soon after due to an assault with a red card.

Thus Manchester City took another step towards achieving the long-awaited glory. The team will participate in the Champions League Final for the first time on May 29 in Istanbul – either against Chelsea or Real Madrid. Just looking at the results shows that qualifying for the Final is worth it. The Nationals have won eleven of the 12 matches in First Division this season. The twelfth was 0-0 in the group stage in Porto.

These achievements, made possible also thanks to the work of world coach Pep Guardiola, are in line with the apparent dominance of the Premier League. The city can secure the championship title early next week.

In the second gigantic duel between two teams dominated by the Persian Gulf, there was almost as much going on in the first 20 minutes as in the following seventy. Firstly, Dutch referee Björn Kuibers revised a hand-held penalty decision against Manchester City. A short time later, on the other side, Riyad Mahrez used a rebound to defeat PSG goalkeeper Keylor Navas from close range in cold blood. Once again, it was little time before Marquinhos narrowly missed a quick equalizer with a header over the crossbar. Di Maria should have scored a draw right after that. After a foul by City goalkeeper Ederson, the Argentine saw half of the goal blank, but did not hit it. After these 20 minutes, the French were supposed to drive, but they were behind.

The main player in both matches was Riyad Mahrez. The 30-year-old French-Algerian, who grew up outside Paris, scored the landmark 2-1 goal in the first leg. If the team does not perform particularly well in long periods, such as in the second leg against Paris Saint-Germain, it will not need many opportunities to score. He scored the second goal in Manchester after a counter attack from almost the same position as the first. The competence shown by Mahrez was missing from the entire opposing team, including Neymar. The French did not disappoint, but their generous efforts often led nowhere.

Even before the big match, Paris Saint-Germain had to accept a setback. The injured calf Kylian Mbappe could not be brought in in time. Mbappe was on the bench, but the use of the exceptional player on light snow-covered ground at first was not justified. Mauro Icardi was the striker, and the Argentine could not achieve anything until he was substituted.