City clocked up their first win in the Champions League thanks to an injury time strike from Sergio Aguero. Roberto Mancini called it “lucky” and the overall performance left a lot to be desired, but our Champions League campaign is finally up and running.
As expected Mancini made several changes from the side that trounced Aston Villa. Dzeko and Nasri were both restored to the attack, while Zabaleta and Kolarov came in at full-back.
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Hart – Made a poor start palming out Rossi’s shot into the path of Cani for the opener. Otherwise dealt well with Villarreal’s efforts. 6
Zabaleta – So nearly the hero with a header in injury time. Showed his spirit by going on to provide the cross for Aguero’s winner. 7
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City take on Villarreal in real need of a victory to kickstart their Champions League campaign. The good news is that the Spaniards look the weakest team in the group, and have players missing through injury.
They don’t appear to be of the same calibre as Napoli and City, with the likes of Aguero and Silva back in the side, should claim the win. Of course European games are harder to predict than domestic fixtures. City’s travails in the Europa League are testimony to that.
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Leaving Carlos Tevez for another article, there were plenty of other things in City’s defeat by Bayern that warrant discussion. The furore around Carlos has diverted the attention from what was one of Roberto Mancini’s worst nights on the pitch.
There may have been half an hour left when Tevez failed to appear, but with Bayern in complete control and Carlos not in great form, the game was as good as over. Tevez remaining on the bench cannot be said to have cost us the game.
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