This victory was as smooth and serene as Manchester City’s passage into the draw for the quarter-finals on Friday week. Going into this second leg 3-1 up, Pep Guardiola sent out an XI that rested the frontline artillery of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Nathan Aké and Kyle Walker before the crunch match against Liverpool at the weekend – and Copenhagen still trailed 3-1 at the break, 6-2 on aggregate.
Manuel Akanji, Julián Álvarez and Erling Haaland were City’s scorers, Mohamed Elyounoussi registering Copenhagen’s consolation as the second half became an exercise in keeping shape and concentration for Guardiola’s side.
