Bayern Munich 2 - Man City 3: James Milner slays German giants
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05:30 |
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POOR Joe Hart seized his chance to get back into
the spotlight and found himself picking the ball out of his net TWICE
before he had even got his hands warm.
JAMES THE THIRD: Milner's winner sent the travelling City fans into hysterics [BONGARTS/GETTY]
England keeper Hart could not really be blamed for either goal - but it was not exactly the start he would have wished for as he tries to wrestle back his spot as No.1 choice from Costel Pantilimon.
But it is at times like that you really need your mates to come to the rescue.
And City did that in astonishing fashion to leave the Bayern superstars and their boss Pep Guardiola nursing severely bruised egos.
City were in very real danger of being put to the sword by rampant Bayern before they decided to do something about it.
The Bavarian giants should have had Manuel Pellegrini's Blues dead and buried by halftime.
But they were then guilty of complacency and City surged back with a vengeance.
Spanish maestro David Silva bundled the ball home from close range in the 28th minute after slick build-up play.
But quite how City got the scoreline back to 2-2 with just under an hour gone is slightly baffling to say the least.
SILVA LINING: Spanish playmaker David Silva pulled one back for the Citizens after Bayern's early blitz [AFP/GETTY]
Then James Milner caught Bayern on the break and picked his spot beautifully with a curling shot to give City a shock lead.
In doing so he put City within touching distance of doing the unthinkable and knocking the famous German club off top spot.
City had been swamped right from the first minute with tricky French schemer Franck Ribery running amok across and through their back line.
He was tormenting City at will and the only surprise at half-time was that Bayern were not way out of sight.
Bayern seeming to relish dishing out a footballing lesson in a bid to extend their 26-game unbeaten run.
City were all over the place right from the off and poor Hart was almost embarrassed in the third minute, when he got in a mix-up with Joleon Lescott who was being pressurised by Ribery.
The defender's back-pass ended up flying past his startled keeper, but fortunately scuttled out wide for a corner.
But in no time at all Hart was picking the ball out of his net twice - hardly the start he wanted.
LEVEL-HEAD: Aleksandar Kolarov got City back on equal terms from the penalty spot [BONGARTS/GETTY] In the 10th minute Hart made a good diving save to keep out a Dante header and then beat away a Ribery effort but within a minute he was beaten again.
This time it was the quick thinking of Mario Gotze which undid the visitors, when he was first to react when a Mario Mandzukic shot had been blocked.
Pellegrini's men clearly sensed they could be in for a hammering unless they dug in, gritted their teeth and battled back.
And it was magician Silva who stemmed the flow with a close-range goal midway through the half.
Hart was called into action again, making a good block from Gotze after Ribery had sliced City's back line open with a classy reverse pass.
City's hopes of having stab at toppling Bayern off the Group D top spot had long since looked like evaporating.
In fact, it had probably disappeared when Pellegrini looked at Bayern's team sheet and realised that opposite number Guardiola was going strong.
And why not? He'd already stated that Bayern finishing second in the group was something that he did not even consider an option.
City started the second half with distinctly more drive and Edin Dzeko warmed Neuer's fingers with a 20-yard hooked drive that had the keeper scrambling across his goal.
Then they got their penalty break when Dante was harshly judged to have brought down Kolarov.
Almost immediately Milner struck the goal which suddenly put everything in the melting pot.
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