Brazil international Gabriel Jesus notched his 23rd goal of the season to send the Blues into the quarter-final of the Champions League as the Los Blancos packed their bags to head home.
Pep Guardiola has praised Gabriel Jesus for downing Real Madrid in the Champions League second-leg, insisting the Manchester City striker “was the man of these two games”.
City came on protecting a 2-1 first-leg lead when they welcomed Madrid to the Etihad Stadium on Friday night, after a resounding victory at the Bernabeu just prior to the coronavirus-enforced break in the season.
It ws Jesus who scored the equaliser for the Blues in that contest, before winning the penalty which Kevin De Bruyne stepped up to convert to complete a memorable turnaround.
With Sergio Aguero still out recovering from surgery on a knee injury, the Brazilian forward was again asked to lead the line in the return leg, and proved clearly to be the crucial difference between both sides once again.
City opened the scoring when Jesus dispossessed an out-of-sorts Raphael Varane of the ball in the Madrid box and teed up Raheem Sterling, who easily then tapped into an empty goalmouth.
A precise Karim Benzema header in t he 28th minute levelled up proceedings, but Jesus was given the final say deep into the second halfmin the 68th minute as he pounced on a short back-pass header from Varane and knocked the ball past the onrushing Thibaut Courtois to put City 4-2 up on aggregate.
Guardiola’s men now look forward eagerly to a quarter-final meeting with Lyon, who took out Juventus, next weekend, and the Spaniard was quick to credit Jesus for his impact over the two legs in his post-match interview.
“This competition will punish you – but Gabriel made his contribution,” the City boss told reporters. “He is the best guy at making these kinds of actions.
“Gabriel was the man of these two games. He scored in Madrid, won the penalty, and then today he made an assist and scored a goal.
“Gabriel always helps with more than goals, but for a striker, it’s important to score. For big players, it’s important to show on the biggest stage.
“He has done it twice and he made a big step to say: ‘Here I am, I can win games myself’.”
Jesus was jubilant yet modest as he desribed City’s victory as ‘massive’, before admitting that he tries to emulate countryman and Brazil legend Ronaldo whenever he steps out onto the pitch.
“I work to be a great striker, I work every day hard to be like Ronaldo was,” he said. “His quality is different from me but I have to work to be a great striker.”