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MOTD- Bayern Munich 2-3 Manchester City

By on December 10, 2013
James Milner wheels away to celebrate as Manchester City completed a fantastic turnaround to beat Bayern Munich 3-2.

James Milner wheels away to celebrate as Manchester City completed a fantastic turnaround to beat Bayern Munich 3-2.

Manchester City were going to finish second.  Great, good for them.  They would qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history, coming in second behind Bayern Munich in Group D.  At least they couldn’t lose that even if Bayern crushed them in their final group match of the 2013/2014 Champions League.

This seemed common knowledge with City headed to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern in their final Group D match, a place where Bayern had previously not lost at in their last ten Champions League matches.  The Bavarian’s last loss on home turn came last March, while their last loss in general was twenty-seven matches ago, against Borussia Dortmund in the DFB Super Cup final.  So naturally, City, a side still suffering from inexperience in the Champions League, would come out of their final group match with a loss. Especially so when nine minutes into the match Manuel Pellegrini’s side were 2-0 down.  Yet somehow the visitors turned it around, completing a fantastic comeback to win the match 3-2, although they still finished second.  One goal from David Silva, one from Aleksandar Kolarov and one from James Milner gave City the most unlikeliest of three points.

City began the match with seven changes from their starting XI in their 1-1 draw with Southampton last weekend, with Manuel Pellegrini giving Joe Hart a chance to reclaim the City No1 spot.  The England goalkeeper has had his confidence in shambles, but at least he got a win under his belt and could hardly be blamed for either of Bayern’s goals.  In fact, there was almost nothing more the 26-year-old could have done even when Bayern scored the opener just four minutes into the match when Dante chipped a superb long-ball through to the run of Thomas Muller.  Muller chested it down before slotting it past Hart, who attempted to spread himself out while charging, into the back of the net while City’s defense was left yelling at each other.

It only got worse for City as Bayern put high pressure on the visitors, nearly doubling their lead in the ninth minute when Dante rose up to head a Bayern free-kick into the arms of Hart. Franck Ribery then had his deflected shot bounce off the post and out for a corner, from which Bayern easily added a second goal to their tally.  The corner was swung in from the right and landed at the feet of Mario Mandzukic, who shuffled the ball over to Mario Gotze.  Replays would later prove Gotze was offside, but the call wasn’t made and Gotze tucked it under Hart into the back of the net to put Bayern up 2-0 in the first twelve minutes of the match.

City slowly started to find their way back into the match, but it took a jewel of a goal to make a comeback plausible for Pellegrini’s men.  Jesus Navas skipped down the right wing before curling a beautiful cross in towards the back post, where Milner headed it back to Silva, who volleyed it through the legs of Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer from three yards to make it 2-1.  City kept up the momentum from the goal, even as the match hurried into the second half.  Neuer blocked Edin Dzeko’s effort, yet when Dante was penalized for barging in front of Milner insdie the Bayern penalty area City gleefully accepted the penalty.  Aleksandar Kolarov stepped up take it, and although being a left-back Kolarov curled his spot-kick into the bottom left corner while Neuer dove the other way.

The visitors were on a roll, and soon completed the comeback when Jerome Boateng failed to clear Navas’ cross from the right.  The ball through the defender’s legs towards the back post, where Milner coolly placed an inch-perfect effort into the far corner of the net from eight yards out.  Pellegrini’s side needed just one more goal to replace Bayern as leaders of the group, and while Alvaro Negredo had his shot from a tight angle blocked City failed to find that all important fourth goal.  Yet they still won the match, despite fact that it failed to move them out of second place above Bayern, who still remained leaders of the group.
Man of the Match: James Milner

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.