UEFA CUP LAST 16, FIRST LEG Manchester City 2 Aalborg 0WHAT PRICE both Manchester clubs playing in a European final this season? United are already safely ensconced in the Champions League quarter-final and last night it was City's turn to nurture the sense that an erratic season could ultimately end with their first piece of silverware since the 1976 League Cup.
There is a long way to go until then, of course, and City still have to dispel their reputation as a club that perpetually conspires to mess things up. Yet it is difficult to imagine them losing their two-goal advantage in Denmark next Thursday on the basis of this stylish performance and their supporters were confidently singing about reaching the Uefa Cup final in Istanbul on May 20th.
If anything, they deserved a more handsome winning margin than that conjured up by Felipe Caicedo’s and Shaun Wright-Phillips’s first-half goals and, if they can maintain this level of performance in the return leg, it is inconceivable to imagine Aalborg denying them a place in the last eight of this competition.
City have a formidable record on their own ground and when they pass the ball as elegantly as this it is startling that they dropped into the Premier League’s relegation places over Christmas.
Theirs is a fluid system, the emphasis on passing the ball and moving into space. They have a midfield quartet of Wright-Phillips, Stephen Ireland, Elano and Robinho whose first instinct is to attack and interchange positions and, at times, it was too much for their opponents.
Hughes could certainly be forgiven for wondering why Robinho struggles to reach this level of performance away from this stadium. The Brazilian was a constant menace, at one point doing half a dozen stepovers in succession inside the Aalborg penalty area before one of the defenders, Michael Beauchamp, became so bamboozled he ended up kicking away his ankles. How the referee, Luxembourg’s Alain Hamer, did not award a penalty is a mystery.
Robinho also began the move on the left wing that led to the opening goal, although the breakthrough was more about Caicedo’s remarkable body strength. The young Ecuadorian is built like a light-heavyweight and, having received the ball with his back to goal, he simply outmuscled his marker, Michael Jakobsen, before advancing into the penalty area and prodding the ball past the goalkeeper Karim Zaza.
The second goal was even more impressive: it involved a classic Wright-Phillips run, starting on the right before darting infield and twisting and turning into space to find a shooting opportunity. Patrick Kristensen, Aalborg’s left-back, was left trailing and Wright-Phillips struck his shot with the outside of his right boot so that it curled away from Zaza into the top corner of the net.
There were sporadic moments when Aalborg, fifth in Denmark’s Superliga, showed how they had taken points from Manchester United and Celtic in the Champions League. Caca, the Brazilian forward, forced a good save from Shay Given after 21 minutes and Thomas Augustinussen wastefully missed the target when clear.
That apart, however, Hughes was entitled to be disappointed that there were not further goals to take to Denmark.
Guardian Service
MAN CITY:Given, Richards, Onuoha, Dunne, Bridge, Wright-Phillips (Etuhu 87 mins), Zabaleta, Ireland, Elano, Robinho, Caicedo (Evans 63 mins). Subs not used:Hart, Vassell, Garrido, Fernandes, Berti. Goals: Caicedo 8, Wright-Phillips 30). Booked: Elano.
AALBORG:Zaza, Bogelund, Beauchamp, Jakobsen (Lasse Nielsen 86 mins), Kristensen, Augustinussen, Caca, Johansson, Enevoldsen (Risgard 76 mins), Due (Curth 66mins), Shelton. Subs not used:Kenneth Nielsen, Nomvethe, Tracy, Christensen. Booked: Enevoldsen.
Referee:Alain Hamer (Luxembourg)
