MATCH REPORT AND PLAYER RATINGS - MANCHESTER CITY 3-1 FC COPENHAGEN

Image courtesy of standard.co.uk

Manchester City booked their place in the UEFA Champions League quarter finals in mundane fashion, with a comfortable win against a much inferior FC Copenhagen side.

After a stunning Etihad Stadium lights show, City barely got out of second gear as they cruised into an early 2-0 lead.

Julian Alvarez was directly involved in both of City's opening goals, in what was another good all around performance from him.

The Argentinian delivered a wicked corner into the penalty area that was volleyed home inside the penalty by Manuel Akanji, for his fourth goal of the season.

Alvarez then added his own name to the scoresheet with a whipped cross-cum-shot from the left hand side, which was fumbled into the back of the net by Kamil Grababa to more or less confirm City's place in the final eight for the sixth consecutive season.

Copenhagen, who had started the game sloppily, began to gain a foothold as City lowered the tempo and took their foot off the gas with the aggregate score standing at 5-1 to the Blues.

They pulled a goal back thanks to former Southampton winger Mohamed Elyounoussi, who linked up well with Orri Oskarsson before slotting the ball past Ederson.

Copenhagen then had a period of possession in the game, with City struggling to dictate things in the way they will have wanted to.

But City soon fixed that before half time, and restored their two goal lead thanks to Erling Haaland, who controlled Rodri's long ball over the top, shifted it onto his left foot and wrong footed the keeper with a crisp low shot into the bottom right corner.

Haaland, Rodri and Ruben Dias were all substituted off in an uneventful second half, where they joined Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Kevin de Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Nathan Ake and John Stones on the bench to be preserved for City's trip to Anfield to face Liverpool in a top of the table Premier League clash on Sunday.

It was a good opportunity for the likes of Alvarez, Akanji, Mateo Kovacic, Rico Lewis and the fit again Josko Gvardiol to stake a claim to start in the biggest games at the end of the season.

For the former three in particular, they put forward a good account of themselves, and no player significantly worsened their chances of starting for the Blues in the end of season run in, with the chance of a second consecutive treble very much still on the cards.

Their chances would be very much boosted by a win at Anfield this weekend. With a fully fit squad barring Jack Grealish and potentially Jeremy Doku, City have every right to go into the game against their biggest title challengers with the hopes of coming out with a positive result.

Here are the player ratings for the victory against Copenhagen:

Ederson - 6.5/10 - Had a very quiet game. Made up for a mistake leading to a Copenhagen chance with an excellent save from close range later on in the second half.

Lewis - 6.5/10 - Fairly quiet operating as the right wing outlet in the first half, but looked sharp when in possession of the ball. Would've been more involved in a central position in the second half, had it not been for City having less of the ball in high areas of the pitch than in the first half.

Akanji - 8/10 - Took his highly technical goal very well, and had a very solid overall game in the centre of defence, which will certainly give manager Pep Guardiola something to think about ahead of the Liverpool game on Sunday.

Dias - 7/10 - Nipped in to sweep up the ball on a few occasions when Copenhagen looked dangerous going forward. Kept the ball well throughout.

Gvardiol - 7/10 - Other than a few sloppy passes, Gvardiol looked completely unflappable, succeeding with some high difficulty passes under severe pressure.

Rodri - 7.5/10 - Barely put a foot wrong in his 45 minutes on the pitch, and capped things off with an excellent assist for Haaland with a sublime long pass in behind to the Norwegian striker.

Kovacic - 8/10 - Looked sharp and efficient playing as the left sided 8 - and it was particularly intriguing to see him drop into the left hand side of a back three to allow Gvardiol to push on. Like Akanji, the 29 year old has very much put himself into consideration to start at the weekend against Jurgen Klopp's side with his performance last night.

Nunes - 6.5/10 - Had a game mixed with moments of high quality and indifference, as he struggled to see many touches of the ball. Suffered a very nasty looking injury to his finger, which hopefully won't rule him out f the squad for the game at the weekend.

Bobb - 7/10 - Took the ball on the turn in Foden-esque fashion dangerously a few times, and looked very incisive and dangerous. His final ball was a bit disappointing, however, which led to Copenhagen's goal.

Alvarez - 8.5/10 - No matter how poorly he performs, Alvarez is always a goal threat, and can pop up with a goal or an assist. Against Copenhagen, he matched this goal output (taking him up to a combined total of 28 this season) with a good overall performance on the left wing, which suggests to me he is quite likely to start there this weekend in Doku and Grealish's absence.

Haaland - 7.5/10 - A quiet overall game. Linked the play well from centre forward, and took his goal in clinical fashion, an encouraging sight for all City fans before his encounter with Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk on Sunday.

Substitutes:

Gomez - 6.5/10 - Had a few good touches of the ball on the left hand side and in midfield, but showed signs of rustiness by giving the ball away in unnecessary circumstances.

Stones - 7/10 - Had a composed and solid game off the bench. His cameo was useful in giving him minutes and giving Dias an appropriate amount of rest before Sunday's match.

Hamilton - 6.5/10 - Had a few nice touches of the ball and kept the ball well in his short period of time on the pitch.

Wright - Not enough time to make an impact.