Thomas Tuchel said he had sleepless nights trying to think of ways to stop Manchester City.
After a devastating first leg at the Etihad, the Bayern Munich boss will be seeing blue shirts in his nightmares after his hopes of Champions League success took a giant step to being killed by a ruthless and rampant City side. Joao Cancelo, left out of the starting XI and booed as he came on against his parent club, does not look like his season slide will be stopping any time soon.
Pep Guardiola's side will take a 3-0 lead to Munich after one of their most complete performances in the Champions League and only the ghosts of tournaments past look like they can stop them booking another semi-final date. On the evidence available at the Etihad, that is all a bewildered and bedraggled Bayern could cling to.
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Cancelo could only watch on from the visiting bench and as well as the familiar sight of City bossing a game without him there was Thomas Tuchel manically, unsuccessfully, trying to stop it. We are only at half-time of this Champions League quarter-final yet there was more than enough for the former Chelsea boss to be agitated by aside from the Rodri thunderbolt that kicked off proceedings.
Tuchel's appointment was widely seen as ominous for Guardiola given the Champions League final in 2021, the third of three victories for Chelsea over City in a matter of weeks and by far the most painful for the Blues as their biggest chance of winning European glory eluded them in a toothless defeat. Aside from the obvious of the new manager having just three games before this one with a group of players whose form had seen Julian Nagelsmann sacked, the Tuchel hold over his rival was never as strong as is made out.
Months after the Champions League final, Tuchel was the most animated person inside Stamford Bridge as City passed the ball around his players for 90 minutes, and a dominant double was completed later in the campaign in the last meeting between the two managers before Tuesday night. Already out of the German Cup, Tuchel knows it will take some effort to buck his trend against Guardiola and move closer to another Champions League final.
Bayern started off threateningly at the Etihad and caused City problems in the first hour. Ederson made a number of good stops from Leroy Sane in the second half, while Erling Haaland could barely get a kick initially up against Dayot Upamecano.
Every time the visitors looked like making something happen though, they were foiled by a mean City backline full of form and fight. Ruben Dias made two outstanding challenges in a couple of first-half minutes - one a block, the other a tackle - with the second leading to Rodri's opening goal, while Nathan Ake, Manu Akanji, and John Stones all made intelligent decisions under pressure.
Guardiola had tweaked his new 3-4-3 system to have Stones moving forward alongside Rodri from centre-back rather than right-back. Even if it was a work in progress enough for the manager to be lambasting the player for venturing further forward than he wanted it still was good enough to repel Bayern.
It was clear, also, that City were the better team. Bernardo Silva fully justified his selection ahead of Riyad Mahrez with a terrific performance that had Alphonso Davies desperate for help on his flank. On numerous occasions, Bernardo was able to get the better of his man and more often than not he would feed De Bruyne to put a dangerous ball into the box.
Haaland is expected to be the missing piece in the Champions League jigsaw for City and there was a collective strangled gasp when he missed the first clear opening of the night. Akanji had won the ball back from a Bayern throw and it came to Rodri, who knocked it on to Jack Grealish, who fed Haaland on the edge of the box but the first-time shot was weak and straight at Sommer.
Guardiola has been stressing about the fine margins that have caused City so much pain in the past, yet instead of wallowing in that miss the team set about making it (they will hope and expect) irrelevant. A clean sheet and a two-goal advantage is a mightily impressive stage to take to Munich.
The strike from Rodri to put them on their way was incredible, soaring off his weaker left foot and past Sommer into the far corner to put City ahead at the break. The Bayern keeper made excellent saves from Ake and Dias before the hour mark but was finally breached soon after as the brilliant Bernardo powered home a header.
Grealish was involved again, winning possession back from the error-prone Upemecano to set Haaland free in the box and as he pulled that lanky left foot back to pull the trigger everyone waited for the net to bustle, only to see it chipped sideways across the box before dropping dreamily for one of the smallest players on the pitch to head home.
Sommer made another terrific save to stop substitute Julian Alvarez - on for De Bruyne, who looked to pick up a bad injury but was then fuming to be taken off - from poking home a third but from the resulting corner a clever Stones header allowed Haaland to convert from close range.
Bayern kept trying but there was to be no respite, the sight of Dias running over in stoppage time to congratulate Ake for a clearance showing the collective effort physically and mentally that City put in. It may only be half-time but anything like this level of performance - City's best ever in the Champions League - will see them through.
So dominant were the home team by the end that some fans didn't need to watch the closing stages, Poznaning their way to victory. That in itself is remarkable against one of the most decorated clubs in Europe and one that would still count themselves as one of the best.
Where they have fallen in past years to the narrative and drama that surrounds the competition and gives it its magic, here a good team bang in form did not fall to the Tuchel story or the Cancelo story or the history of Bayern. Instead, they look set on writing a new tale come June in Istanbul.
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