Manchester City came into this season thinking that lifting the Champions League trophy high could be a realistic ambition for them. Unfortunately, they aren’t off to the best of starts, losing their first game of the campaign against Lyon tonight. Without Pep Guardiola, who was serving his touchline ban stemming from last season, it seemed as if there was a certain flair missing from City’s game. While he wouldn’t necessarily have had a massive impact on how things went on the pitch, his presence alone is usually enough to see City through to a victory.
A big shocker
The home side are considered to be the favourites to win the competition by many bookmakers, but it’ll be interesting to see how many of them change their tune on that tomorrow morning.
City looked out of sorts from the word go, and they were finally made to pay just under half an hour into the game with Maxwel Cornet smashed them into the lead. Even after half time it felt like the hosts had resigned themselves to the possibility of this not being their night, as they probably realised that there are five more winnable games to come in the next few months.
Looking ahead
Before half time even came, though, Fekir doubled Lyon’s advantage as the French side went into auto pilot. Alas, they wound up suffering as a result with Bernardo Silva halving the deficit with just under 25 minutes remaining – but it wasn’t enough.
Lyon will go into their next group stage game with a bucket load of confidence, meanwhile, Manchester City need to regroup – as this isn’t the first time they’ve shown cracks so far this season.
Match Report
Manchester City: Ederson (5.5), Walker (6), Stones (5.5), Laporte (6), Delph (6), Gundogan (6), Fernandinho (6.5), Silva (6), Bernardo Silva (6.5), Jesus (6), Sterling (6.5)
Lyon: Lopes (6.5), Pereira da Silva (6), Filho (6.5), Denayer (6.5), Mendy (6), Cornet (7), Diop Gueye (6.5), NDombele (6), Aouar (6.5), Fekir (6.5), Depay (6)
Referee: Daniele Orsato
Goals: Bernardo Silva :: Cornet, Fekir
Yellow Cards: Aguero, Traore, Fekir
Red Cards: N/A
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