(Football news) Magnus Mattsson, who benefited from a terrible goalkeeping error by Ederson, gave the home team a point after Magnus De Bruyne’s team burst out of the blocks for Manchester City in their first game on home soil.

But, shortly before halftime, Bernardo Silva gave City their lead back. And thanks to a late goal from Phil Foden, the triple winners will head into the second leg at the Etihad on March 6 with a strong two-goal advantage.

Jack Grealish, a highly-rated attacker from Copenhagen, was left out of the hosts’ starting lineup despite a few changes made by the visitors, who saw Jack Grealish receive a rare start for the first time since defeating Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup on January 7. 

Copenhagen’s Parken base has been an intimidating ground for many a European team – including Manchester City, who could only manage a draw there in the 2022-23 group phase – but the holders were immediately in the ascendancy in Scandinavia.

With just four minutes gone, Nathan Ake sent in a delicate delivery for De Bruyne – who failed to connect properly with his wayward header – but the Belgian quickly made amends just seven minutes later.

Cutting inside from the right flank, Foden took three Copenhagen players out of the game with an exquisite pass to De Bruyne, who picked out the far corner with a terrific strike across goal to give Guardiola’s men the lead that their domination warranted.

Delight soon turned to despair for Grealish, though, as after worryingly going down before attempting to play through the pain, Guardiola opted to withdraw the Englishman, as Jeremy Doku was sent on in the 20th minute.

Manchester City’s momentum was not disrupted by Grealish’s blow, though, and Copenhagen centre-back Denis Vavro nearly gifted the visitors their second in the 23rd minute, heading a Silva cross against his own bar.

It was seemingly only a matter of time before the net rippled again as Erling Haaland cleared the bar with an acrobatic effort on the half-hour mark, and the second goal of the contest would arrive in the 34th minute, albeit one which lifted the home fans off their seats.

Ederson made a disastrous mistake for Manchester City when he played the ball straight to Mohamed Elyounoussi. Ruben Dias blocked Elyounoussi’s shot, but Mattsson was there to take advantage of the ricochet, and his incredible first-time curler from the edge of the box went just inside the post.

Mattsson, who joined from NEC Nijmegen in January, could not have chosen a better manner to win over the Copenhagen supporters. However, in a tragic turn of events, the midfielder was unintentionally responsible for Manchester City’s reply, which came in the opening minute of injury time.

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