Man City unsung heroes shine bright in Atletico riot

It is not very often that Manchester City’s defenders get to be the heroes. They are usually the guys who knock it around peacefully at the back, creating the build-up, and then give the ball to the magic men further up the field.

But on a riotous, red-raw night at the Wanda Metropolitano, they shone like beacons amidst the darkness of Atletico’s thuggery and skulduggery. The Spanish champions ended up without Felipe - red-carded for his part in a 20-man bout of shoving sparked by the ill-treatment of Phil Foden, his head still bandaged from the first half smash he took from the same defender’s shoulder.

It was a terrible shame that Atleti felt the need to resort to such unpleasantness because at times in the second half they showed just what a good football team they are, albeit against a City team that ran out of steam after the efforts of Sunday against Liverpool.

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Pep Guardiola made two changes from that game, and that left Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and the rest running on empty after the break. Right from the first whistle, it was clear that this was going to be a better game than last week’s first leg, simply because Atleti could not afford to defend deep and rely on their combination of tough, organised defence and borderline thuggery.

They tried to play their game much higher up the pitch, with Joao Felix and Renan Lodi trying to get in behind City, and the midfield in support. But that simply left space for European specialist Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne to exploit, and with Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez always on their marks to feed off the midfielders, Atleti were regularly stretched.

Their response was to open up their 'Big Book of the Dark Arts', with