Staff reporter.
Manchester City reached their first Champions League final as they sealed a commanding 4-1 aggregate win over Paris St-Germain.
City won the first leg 2-1 and Riyad Mahrez’s low shot stretched their lead at Etihad Stadium after Kevin de Bruyne’s blocked effort.
Mahrez scored again in the second half, finishing off a rapid counter-attack by converting Phil Foden’s low cross.
PSG ended the game with 10 men following Angel di Maria’s red card.
Pep Guardiola’s side need one win to become Premier League champions, having already won the Carabao Cup, and this victory keeps them on course for a treble.
“This is remarkable,” said Guardiola.
“People believe it’s easy to arrive in the final of the Champions League. Getting to the final now makes sense of what we have done in the past four or five years
“I want to thank the owner, the chairman and the staff at the club. This club is about all the people that work behind the scenes, it’s not just about money. If you want to think that then you are wrong.”
They had gone out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the past three seasons and lost in the semi-finals in 2016, but a superb defensive display blunted Mauricio Pochettino’s team.
City will be playing in only the second major European final in their history, after they beat Polish side Gornik Zabrze to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970.
“They were clinical,” said Pochettino, who became PSG boss in January.
“I congratulate Manchester City, they’re having a fantastic season.”
“That [Mbappe’s absence] cannot be an excuse,” added Pochettino, a Champions League finalist with Tottenham in 2019.
“We are a team. Of course, it’s unlucky he was not ready to help the team, but that’s not an excuse. We cannot use that excuse because the performance from the team was good.
“We played the game we planned to play. We started really well, creating chances and dominating Manchester City. That’s not easy.
Chelsea and Real Madrid, level at 1-1 after the first leg, play the second leg of their semi-final at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday (20:00 BST).
The final is in Istanbul, Turkey, on Saturday, 29 May.