Manchester City Wins the “Battle of the Champions League” Against Aston Villa
Manchester City, reigning champions for the past four seasons, climbed temporarily into third place with a late 2–1 victory over visitors Aston Villa in the opening match of Match week 34 of the English Premier League.
City took an early lead through Portuguese playmaker Bernardo Silva (7), before Marcus Rashford equalized for Aston Villa (18) from the penalty spot. The winning goal came in stoppage time courtesy of another Portuguese player, Matheus Nunes, following a brilliant solo effort by Belgian substitute winger Jérémy Doku (90+4).
With this victory, City raised their tally to 61 points, moving up to third place, one point ahead of surprise package Nottingham Forest, who slipped to fourth ahead of their match against Brentford on Thursday in the final game of the round.
League leaders Liverpool, currently sitting on 79 points, now have a strong chance of securing their 20th league title even before their upcoming clash with Tottenham on Sunday — especially if direct rivals Arsenal lose to Crystal Palace later tonight. The “Gunners” trail the “Reds” by 13 points with just five games remaining in the season.
Champions League Race Heats Up
Aston Villa played their third match in eight days, having defeated French giants Paris Saint-Germain 3–2 in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals — a result that wasn’t enough to overturn a 1–3 first-leg deficit. They followed that with a 4–1 win over Newcastle in the previous league round.
Their loss to City reignited the fierce battle for Champions League qualification spots, as Villa’s five-game winning streak in the league came to an end, leaving them stuck on 57 points in seventh place. They are now level with sixth-place Chelsea, who host Everton on Saturday, while Newcastle sits in fifth with 59 points ahead of their clash with Ipswich Town on the same day.
The Premier League is guaranteed at least five representatives in next season’s Champions League, according to UEFA’s coefficient rankings.
The match between City and Villa saw seven yellow cards handed out, including one shown to City manager Pep Guardiola, who was furious with the referee after a penalty was awarded to Villa following a VAR review of a foul by Portuguese defender Rúben Dias on Jacob Ramsey. Rashford successfully converted the spot-kick past German goalkeeper Stefan Ortega Moreno (18), canceling out City’s opener, which came from a pass by Egyptian star Omar Marmoush to Silva, whose powerful shot slipped through the hands of Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez just seven minutes into the game.
City created several chances in the second half, most notably through youngster James McAtee (60, 66), before Nunes snatched the valuable winner deep in stoppage time (90+4).
