This was not a classic Manchester City victory. Technically, Wednesday on its own wasn’t a victory at all. But it was nevertheless all the more valuable for that.  

it had the wherewithal to hold out for a 0–0 draw that took it through (1–0 aggregate) to the Champions League semifinals, where it will face another Spanish capital power, Real Madrid. 

For City, leading 1–0 from the first leg, it was a case of weathering the storm that came, predictably enough, at the beginning of each half and then in the final 20 minutes  

Pep Guardiola was owed some fortune against anybody it is Diego Simeone, given the way his Bayern Munich side lost on away goals to Atlético in the 2016 semifinals despite having dominated both legs. 

Just as everything threatened to degenerate, the arrival of Fernandinho from the bench gave City back a measure of control, less for his passing and positional intelligence  

the dozen of additional minutes were played on a knife’s edge, but City still held out, for which Guardiola’s reward is yet another meeting with a club he knows all too well. 

His City faced Real Madrid in the last 16 in 2020 and won comfortably enough (4–2 on aggregate), pressing Zinedine Zidane’s side into errors. 

Meanwhile, its neighbor, Atléico rolled out the royal cholismo treatment throughout the match, channeling its inner Simeone and playing true to its identity.