Manchester City 3 Bayern Munich 2
The astonishing thing about this night is that it, once again, it exposed all Manchester City’s shortcomings in Europe. They had been outpassed and often humbled by a side that was down to 10 men after 20 minutes. Yet if there is one thing that cannot be said of Manuel Pellegrini’s team it is that they ever give up.
“We’ll fight to the end,” goes the song, and what an incredible comeback it was in those last few minutes when all of Bayern Munich’s calm and resolve disintegrated and Sergio Agüero slid in the two goals that gave him his hat-trick and left their qualifying group with an entirely different complexion before their final match against Roma in Stadio Olimpico. City had gone from a position of virtually no hope to second in the group in a matter of minutes and Pellegrini was spared another round of questions about whether he is capable of taking them to the next level.
For long spells the evidence had been stacking up against him bearing in mind Agüero had put City in front after Medhi Benatia gave away the penalty that also brought him his red card.
Bayern, even down to 10, had an unerring knack of keeping the ball. Another team might have wilted after that moment when Frank Lampard clipped a ball over their defence for Agüero to run clear and Benatia, diving in, made his last contribution of the evening. Bayern needed only a few minutes to shake their heads clear but once they had recovered their poise it was devastating how they managed to turn this game upside down.
Here was a reminder why they have gone 18 games since losing a game and, even then, it was only Germany’s equivalent of the Community Shield. Eleven-versus-eleven, Pep Guardiola’s team had been strutting around to their own game of keep-ball and the statistics told us City managed only 24% of possession inside the opening 10 minutes. A man down, the numbers were a bit fairer and the Bundesliga champions seemed absolutely determined to show they could get hold their own.
They had also a footballer in Xabi Alonso who demonstrated so much supreme control even on the night of his 33rd birthday it felt almost absurd that he inadvertently set up Agüero's second goal with a loose pass. Alonso's free-kick to make it 1-1 was, in the vernacular of the schoolground, an old-fashioned pea-roller, played low and across the ground to pick out the bottom corner. Yet his contribution had been about much more than the equalising goal until he gave the ball to the substitute Stevan Jovetic and Agüero raced away to score with a left-footed finish.
City, in stark contrast, looked erratic and prone to making mistakes. Alonso's goal came from a foul by Fernando in a position when he should have been operating with more care and Robert Lewandowski had both Vincent Kompany and Bacary Sagna around him when Jérôme Boateng swung over the right-sided cross for him to put Bayern in the lead. Lewandowski benefited from some fortune as the ball spun off his shoulder to loop over Joe Hart but his run had been brilliant.
Bayern’s only real mistake in that period had come in the form of Benatia’s poor positioning and mistimed attempt to make up for his error. The Moroccan made plenty of contact with Agüero but none with the ball. It was a clear sending-off and the Argentinian managed to get the ball far enough into the left-hand corner of Manuel Neuer’s net to elude Bayern’s goalkeeper.
The way City surrendered their lead was startling even taking into account their previous difficulties in this competition. Yet they still had a numerical advantage and Jesús Navas at least provided them with some sort of threat on the right.
Their problem was getting any control or momentum in the middle. Guardiola had responded to the red card by taking off a midfielder, Sebastian Rode, to bring on Dante as a replacement centre-half. Yet Bayern were never overwhelmed and Neuer’s booking in the second half for time-wasting felt incongruous to how they had held off their opponents.
Lampard kept plugging away and James Milner had been playing well before he was substituted but there were long spells when City missed their suspended pair of Yaya Touré and Fernandinho and in the moments when City maybe needed their crowd to lift them most of the noise came from the section where Bayern's supporters were positioned.
It was always going to take something remarkable for City to get back into the match and Alonso duly provided it with the misjudgment that had Guardiola howling with exasperation on the touchline. Jovetic intercepted the ball and Agüero, once again, had nobody around him as he ran clear to make it 2-2.
Bayern had not deserved it but worse was to come. Jerome Boateng had been impeccable in their defence but then came the moment when he surrendered the ball on the edge of his own penalty area. Agüero deserves great acclaim for his perseverance and from that position he is ruthlessly efficient with his finishing. Neuer was beaten for a third time and City will go to Rome in a new and unexpected position of strength.
