At the start of his gala performance, Valverde provided his goalkeeper with an assist: after a long ball from goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, the Uruguayan left his marker standing with his first touch, then sent City keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma sliding into thin air with his second. After a pass from Vinicius Junior, he made it 2-0 with a well-placed shot and followed up with another feat shortly before half-time. Valverde lifted a lob from Brahim Diaz over City defender Marc Guéhi in the penalty area and finished with a volley. Vinicius also missed a penalty (57').
The clash against the German record champions now seems to be a mere formality. On Tuesday evening, Bayern won 6-1 (3-0) at Atalanta Bergamo. The quarter-finals will take place on 7/8 and 14/15 April.
But Valverde warned against overconfidence. "The games in Manchester are very tough. We have to go there as if it were 0-0 and work hard," he demanded. But he admitted openly: "We have shown that we can achieve great things when the team works together."