Man City players ignore Bayern warning to make good on Pep Guardiola vow

Manchester City are through to the last four of the Champions League again - but boy did they have to suffer for it.

Pep Guardiola was exhausted after the first leg because Bayern Munich did things to his team that nobody else has this season, and the Blues' defence was repeatedly shredded at a fiery Allianz Arena in a game played at a blistering pace. Never has a 3-0 lead felt so fragile.

If the first leg was played on a knife edge, this was a knife edge on a precipice with City as determined to keep control as Bayern were happy to play fast and loose. Poor decision-making from the home side contributed to their exit despite the immense energy in their performance, but City absorbed all of the pressure and survived every difficulty they endured to leave Germany with a return date against Real Madrid in the diary.

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A third successive quarter-final exit may be disappointing for Bayern, but they at least exited with some pride restored in what has been a tough few weeks in a difficult season. Bayern went out as a big club should, giving it their all against one of the best teams in Europe.

It was clear even before kick-off that City were going to have a very different fight on their hands. Bayern's bizarre warmup show of Bavaria meets basketball then gave way for the home fans to make a huge Champions League trophy in the stand behind the goal with the message: 'Kings of the Cup!'

To be fair to Thomas Tuchel, for all the downplaying of expectations on Tuesday before the match he had his team fired up and playing like they were going to follow through on the message from their supporters. The pace of Kingsley Coman immediately and repeatedly unsettled Nathan Ake on