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Football Soccer - Manchester City v Paris St Germain - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Second Leg - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England - 12/4/16 Kevin De Bruyne celebrates scoring the first goal for Manchester City Reuters / Andrew Yates Livepic
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On Tuesday, however, his enormous 76th-minute rip from outside the box ensured that City extended its deepest-ever Champions League run into the semifinals.
For the second time in this home-and-away tie, City had been outplayed by Paris Saint-Germain. Yet also for the second time, City managed to scratch out a result. A week earlier, De Bruyne had put City ahead before his side had to settle for a 2-2 tie in Paris that flattered them. His tally in the second leg gave City the 1-0 win and cemented the 3-2 aggregate victory and a spot among the final four of Europe's elite competition.
City had made a bright start to the game, with its forwards running and combining in the spaces left by PSG's experimental 3-5-2 formation. But soon enough, PSG settled in and controlled the run of play again.
They exchanged a few early chances. Zlatan Ibrahimovic's long free kick was swatted away by City goalkeeper Joe Hart. Sergio Aguero put a chance wide from a tough angle at the other end.
But then, just before the half hour, the game seemed to tilt on its axis. Serge Aurier, having a disastrous game as a makeshift central defender for PSG in manager Laurent Blanc's ill-advised three-man back-line, gave the ball away cheaply. Goalkeeper Kevin Trapp had to interfere on Aguero's open run and wiped him out. He was only given a yellow card, when some referees might have given a red, but Aguero knocked his penalty well wide.
PSG breathed a sigh of relief. And just after halftime, Zlatan smashed another free kick at Hart, who again managed to push it away. The realization would soon dawn that in more than an hour of play, those two attempts by the big Swedish striker were the only real chances the visitors had forged.
After all, the rightly disallowed goal by Lucas Moura didn't count, because it was offside.
PSG would continue to create danger. Thiago Silva challenged Hart with a header on a corner, but it was a routine stop for the Eminem-throwback between the sticks.
And then the red-headed De Bruyne locked up the contest. He took a touch on a pass from Fernando outside the box and curled his effort around several defenders and the sprawling Trapp.
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Kevin De Bruyne scores his 2nd goal of the #UCL quarterfinals to give Man City the lead vs PSG. @HeinekenSoccer snpy.tv/1qmSwZ0
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Hart then came up with a big save on Edinson Cavani's effort and Zlatan was also denied a goal for offside. But by this point, PSG needed two tallies to advance and hadn't gotten a whole lot better at finding the requisite room in front of City's goal to get any – that weren't offside.
As the final whistle rang out, Hart, whose ouster has been rumored, pumped the air in joyous relief. Zlatan strolled into the funnel, dejected, knowing that PSG's fourth consecutive stumble in the quarterfinals likely robbed him of a chance to win this competition to crown an otherwise laureled and legendary career.
And so Manchester City will make its first semifinal appearance in the Champions League in the same year that the club made its first quarterfinals, after several false starts in Europe's rarified atmosphere. Meanwhile, outgoing City manager Manuel Pellegrini, who was essentially pre-fired on Feb. 1 when it was announced he would be replaced by Pep Guardiola next season, has made it a little harder still to follow in his footsteps.
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