Man City let three points slip after controversial PK vs. CSKA Moscow
Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League dreams look to be dead for yet another season after a controversial late penalty allowed CSKA Moscow to complete a recovery and draw 2-2 with the English giants. Bebars Natcho scored the vital goal from the spot with five minutes left after Aleksandar Kolarov was harshly penalized for a collision with Seydou Doumbia.
In truth, the result helped neither side much: CSKA are still on a seven-game winless skid in Europe, and this was their first point collected of the campaign. But for City, who were odds-on favorites to get out of this group alongside Bayern Munich, it is nothing short of disaster. They too remain searching for their first win of the year in the Champions League, and now must hope either Bayern or Roma somehow conspire to throw points away with three matches left to play. City have yet to find a win in their last five Europan outings.
It was a game of two halves on Tuesday night at the Arena Khimki, where a ban on supporters and the increasing chill of the Russian fall lent the occasion a ghostly atmosphere. Only 650 people -- mostly sponsors and media -- were allowed into the grounds, but there is likely to be an investigation by UEFA after some of those turned out to be CSKA fans. CSKA took the ban after the racist behavior of their fans during a loss at Roma at the Olimpico.
Both teams displayed an attacking cut and thrust, with Ahmed Musa and Roman Eremenko both getting good looks at Joe Hart’s net early. Musa, who had famously called City “very weak” before the game, seemed intent on proving his point, and on long, slashing runs, he made several attempts that came close, but not close enough.
It was City who finally broke through just before the half-hour when David Silva and Edin Dzeko combined to beat the offside trap. With Mario Fernades keeping Dzeko onside, he delayed his run just enough to collect Silva’s chip and break in free on Igor Akinfeev. Forcing the keeper to commit, he the squared it neatly to Aguero, who could not help but score from three yards.
James Milner would tuck home City’s second just minutes later on basically the same play. Yaya Toure chipped a diagonal ball over the top to Pablo Zabaleta, held onside by Georgy Shchennikov, who pushed the ball back into Aguero’s path for a shot on frame. But he scuffed it, and with Akinfeev on the floor, Milner simply ran on to the ball at the back post to tuck it in.
Edin Dzeko might have added a third a minute later after he was clearly fouled from behind in the area by Sergei Ignashevich but the referee showed some charity, and as Milner followed on, his shot hit the outside of the post.
That charity would allow CSKA a lifeline, and after the break, they would finally craft a response of their own. Musa was kept onside by Vincent Kompany to square a ball to Doumbia. Doumbia’s shot on frame wasn’t technically brilliant -- he basically stumbled over the ball -- but it went over the line.
It was no less than the Russians deserved after City simply went to sleep in the second half, playing aimless football that lacked both the pace and flow of the stuff they had crafted at the outset. But when CSKA nabbed their second in controversial fashion, City erupted.
Kolarov and Doumbia appeared to come together in the box in harmless fashion -- only to see Doumbia then hurl himself to the ground in theatrical fashion. With Kolarov remonstrating with the referee, Natcho stepped up and sent Hart the wrong way to complete the comeback and steal the point.
City and manager Manuel Pellegrini now have a lot of uncomfortable questions to answer. Once again, their naiveté and callowness came back to haunt them, and their stifled manner in the second half proved to be fatal. City are also lagging a full five points behind Chelsea early on in the Premier League race, and look second-best to Jose Mourinho’s men as well.
They will certainly have a lot of time to mull these questions over and try to figure out what went wrong. As it stands, they will not be playing a lot more European football this year, and will once again have to go back to the drawing board at the Etihad. They seem to lack something money cannot buy: Character when it counts in big European games.
