Manchester City defeated Villa 2-1. Nunez's last-minute winner helped the team return to the top three in the Premier League [xueting]

# Manchester City 2-1 Aston Villa #2:1! With a last-minute goal, Guardiola roared in celebration as Manchester City won the Champions League positioning battle and returned to the top three

After achieving 3 wins and 2 draws in the league, Manchester City is ranked fifth in the league table. As the Premier League has a fifth place in the Champions League next season, the competition for a Champions League spot has become extremely fierce. As the FA Cup semi-final needs to be held this weekend, Manchester City's 34th round match has been advanced to the early morning of April 23rd, with Villa as the opponent. Bernardo Silva opened the scoring, Diaz gave away a penalty, Rashford converted it to equalize, and Nunez scored the winning goal. Manchester City won 2-1 in a thrilling victory.

Villa was unfortunately eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last week. They won 4-1 against Newcastle in the last round. Although they are in seventh place, they are only one point behind Manchester City. This is a genuine battle for a place in the Champions League. The two teams naturally fielded their main players. De Bruyne, McCarty, Malmush and Bernardo Silva formed the attacking group, with Kovacic and Gundogan as the double holding midfielders. Nunes, Diaz, Gvardiol and O 'Reilly formed the back line. Ortega is standing in front of the goal. Villa's starting lineup was led by Martin, Rodgers, Tielemans and Rashford.

Just 30 seconds into the game, Villa nearly launched a blitz. Tileimans made a through pass, and Rashford easily got past Diaz with a feigned dribble before shooting low at the far corner. Ortega dived to save but failed, but the ball hit the post right on target! Manchester City, having narrowly escaped a disaster, responded immediately. In the 7th minute, Diaz made a quick transfer from the flank. Malmush controlled the ball on the left side and broke through decisively, then made a back pass from the bottom. Bernardo Silva pushed the ball into the net from the middle of the back pass, 1:0!

In the 18th minute, Rashford organized a counterattack. Ramsey broke through the penalty area with a solo effort on the flank. Diaz came back to defend sideways and brought him down. After reviewing the VAR, the referee awarded a penalty. Rashford tricked Ortega and scored with ease, 1:1! Rashford has scored 7 goals in 23 matches against Manchester City throughout his career, second only to his 8 goals in 18 games against Leicester City.

In the 19th minute, Martinez made another mistake in passing the ball. Fortunately, Malmush made a high-speed forward run and his control of the ball was a bit too large. In the 23rd minute, Martin saved two shots from De Bruyne and Kovacic in succession, gradually finding his form for the game. In the 39th minute, Digne made a brilliant pass from the left side. Rashford, with his speed advantage, got past Diaz and cut into the penalty area, shooting low. Ortega came out to clear the danger.

In the 50th minute of the second half, McCarty's free kick was delivered into the penalty area. Onana made a crucial clearance before Gvardiol could reach it. Then, De Bruyne took a corner kick, and Gvardiol's header just went over the bar. In the 60th minute, De Bruyne made a backheel pass with both the inside and outside of his feet. McCarty, who was in an offside position, made a run forward and saw Martin standing far ahead, directly lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper, but it just missed the target. In the 62nd minute, Rodgers made a through pass, and Rashford dribbled past the advancing Ortega and shot low, but the ball hit the side netting.

In the 73rd minute, Nunes made a lateral pass, Aurelien headed the ball on, Gundogan played the ball back in the penalty area, and Malmush's direct low shot hit the post and went out of bounds. The two teams were evenly matched on the field. Guardiola brought on Docu, and Emery immediately brought on Asensio and Watkins to strengthen the attack. In the 80th minute, Gundo ğ an made a through pass from the edge of the penalty area, and Malmush shot low into the net, but it was still offside.

In a evenly matched situation, Manchester City still came out on top in the end. In the 94th minute, Doku dribbled past Disasi's defense on the left side, advanced at high speed and crossed the ball from the bottom of the box. Nunez, who was waiting at the far post, shot the ball into the net to score the winning goal, 2:1! This was Nunez's first Premier League goal for Manchester City in nearly two years since joining the club. Guardiola also roared excitedly and waved his fists to celebrate from the sidelines! With this last-minute goal, Manchester City won 2:1 and returned to the top three of the league table once again. Villa, however, could only remain in seventh place. # Football ## Premier League #