It was a night to forget in UEFA Champions League competition for Manchester City who went down 2–0 away to Bayern Munich.
However, the main talking point of Tuesday’s round of matches was the refusal of Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez to go on as a substitute after once again being left out of the starting lineup. Asked if Tevez was finished at City, manager Roberto Mancini told the Manchester Evening News, "I don’t decide this, but if I did, then yes. I helped Carlos for two years but I cannot accept this behavior. He just refused to go on.”
Whether Tevez, even at his best, would have made much difference to the result at the Allianz Arena is debatable. The Bayern defense, with new signing Manuel Neuer between the posts, had gone 838 minutes without conceding a goal at the start of this evening’s game, and City rarely looked like spoiling Neuer’s impressive run of clean sheets.
Former City defenders Jerome Boateng and Daniel van Buyten would have been especially keen to thwart the best efforts of their erstwhile teammates.
City began well enough with Neuer the first of the two keepers brought into the action at the four-minute mark, though he was not especially troubled by a weak shot from Edin Dzeko. Mancini had promised a positive approach and was as good as his word.
However, Bayern settled into their rhythm as the first half wore on and shortly after the half hour the impressive Franck Ribery and Bastian Schweinsteiger both tested Joe Hart with decent shots from the edge of the box. Then on 36 minutes, Schweinsteiger contrived to knock the ball over the bar from three yards out with only the keeper to beat. It looked only a matter of time before the Germans opened their account.
Bayern Forge Ahead
Only two minutes after the Schweinsteiger miss, Mario Gomez opened the scoring from point blank range after a heroic double save by Hart off Ribery and Thomas Muller. Then, on the strike of half time, Dzeko looked to have been watching too much of the Rugby World Cup as he crudely wrestled Philip Lahm to the ground from behind.
Toni Kroos curled in the free kick from the left, Hart got down well to save the flick-on from van Buyten but Gomez was again in the perfect position to net the rebound.
City avoided being overrun in the second half but really never looked like getting back into the game. Neuer had virtually nothing to do until the 83rd minute when substitute Aleksandar Kolarov fired in a well-struck drive from all of 30 yards, but it was easy enough for the Bayern keeper.
City Has Much to Learn
Manchester City still has much to prove if they want to be seriously considered as a member of Europe’s elite. There is no doubting the quality of the squad that has been put together, but whether or not they are a “team” is another matter. This question was raised yet again tonight and not just by the Tevez incident.
Despite having played an indifferent game and giving away a stupid foul that led to Bayern’s second goal, Dzeko was shaking his head and glaring daggers at the manager after being substituted. Naturally he would have been disappointed, but his reaction showed that he was thinking only of himself and not the team.
This was a master class by Bayern Munich on how to win a major encounter in Europe. City must learn from the experience, and they must also find a way to create some genuine team spirit amongst their galaxy of stars.
City’s loss leaves the Manchester club languishing in third place in their group with a solitary point after Napoli cruised to a 2–0 win over Villarreal.
United Draw Basel
Manchester United squandered a two-goal lead against Basel. The Swiss champions amazingly went ahead 3–2 after being awarded a penalty, and in the end United were relieved to scramble a late equalizer thanks to the head of Ashley Young.
United also find themselves surprisingly third in their group with just a couple of points, while Benfica’s 1–0 victory away to Romanian side Galati means they join Basel on four points at the top of the group.
United will have a chance to put things right with back-to-back games against Galati.
