After last month’s 3-1 victory in Denmark, Pep Guardiola‘s men wasted no time to get off the mark at the Etihad Stadium, taking the lead after five minutes through Akanji’s volleyed finish.
Julian Alvarez doubled the lead four minutes later to put us in a commanding position in the tie.
Mohamed Elyounoussi pulled one back for the visitors, before Erling Haaland restored our four goal advantage before the interval.
Akanji, who was named UEFA’s Player of the Match, was impressed with the team’s overall performance.
“I saw the ball coming perfectly for my foot, I tried to hit it and it went in. I was really happy about it.
“I never thought I would receive an award like this [Player of the Match] but it’s a good feeling to have one at home. My sons will like it for sure.
“The first two goals we scored in the first half made it easier for us because we were up four goals,” he said. “So it was pretty hard for them to come back.
“We had a little phase where we didn’t play well, then we came out in the second half and we tried to do our best. We did what we had to do today.
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“It helps a lot [two quick goals]. For Copenhagen to come here after losing the first game, it’s pretty hard for them to come back from this.
“That was our goal, to score early because as long as it stayed 0-0 they had hope to come back. We did what we had to do.”
The result made it 30 games since our last Champions League defeat at the Etihad – a run stretching back to September 2018 – and 22 matches unbeaten in total in Europe.
This is the seventh successive season we have been in the last eight of the Champions League, going on to play in the semi-finals in each of the last three campaigns.
Akanji was keen to remain grounded when quizzed on the team’s chances to defend our European crown.
“We’ll see how the tournament goes,” he said. “We feel good right now. We’ll see next week what our draw is.
“We’re confident going into the next round. We’re one of the favourites but we have to prove it.”
