City say ‘Au Revoir’ to Champions League Dreams

How hard can it be? 5-3 up in the first leg playing a team that don’t even come first in ‘Ligue 1’. City

broke records last night, in the wrong way. The Manchester side became the first side to still lose

despite scoring 5 in the first leg. Goals from Mbappe, Tavares and Bakayoko secured the Monaco a

place in the quarter finals in Europe’s greatest competition.

Not expecting a walk in the park, the Sky Blues put out a solid team. Despite leaving Otamendi out,

the likes of Sterling, De Bruyne and Aguero were looking to add to their tallies of European goals. .

Despite the strength of the Manchester attack, ‘They weren’t encouraged to get forward’ quoted

manager Pep Guardiola in his press conference after the match. However, the likes of Sidibe and

Raggi kept the Manchester stars at bay.

Even from a neutral perspective, you could tell the team in blue were sloppy. Right from the offset,

you could see the lack of confidence. A low driven cross from Bernardo Silva seemed to split the

defence. A lack of communication, saw both Stones and Kolorov leave the ball allowing Mbappe to

pass it between Caballero’s legs to reduce City’s advantage. For the rest of the second half it was a

horror show. Another low driven cross, this time to the edge of the box, was converted by Tavares,

bringing the tie to 5-5 on aggregate. Surprise, surprise though, the same man was at fault. Kolorov

left the midfielder unmarked leaving him only the finish to worry about. Half time eventually came

and the city players trudged off. Like an eagle from the flames, a hugely improved city side walked

on and was followed by a cracking Sane goal that flew into the roof of the net. However this fire was

quickly extinguished after a fantastic header from Bakayoko. This goal would seal City’s fate. As the

full time whistle blew, the stands erupted with delight as former English champions crashed out of

the competition. It is yet undecided who Monaco will play but they can only expect a tougher

opponent than the ones they just faced.