Man City 3 Club Brugge 1: Hosts scrape through in Champions League but set up horror clash against giants
THEY were putting out fires inside and outside the Etihad last night.
First, a merchandise stall on the stadium’s perimeter burst into flames.
Then, Pep Guardiola’s men appeared to be torching their European hopes before they rescued themselves from the humiliation of a group-stage Champions League.
Guardiola had been fretting manically on the touchline as City trailed to a first-half strike from Raphael Onyedika.
The City boss was scratching his head, kicking drinks boxes, slipping in his technical area and being booked for yelling at the ref.
Yet he got his half-time substitution bang on. Savinho arrived in place of Ilkay Gundogan and the Brazilian scored the killer third after helping to set up the second.
Heaven knows how City ended up in this situation – needing to defeat Bruges in order to finish in the top 24 and scrape into the play-off round.
The new Champions League format makes it nigh-on impossible for Europe’s grandest clubs to fall at the first hurdle.
But the 2023 champions flirted with the unthinkable after a run of just one point from their previous four matches in the competition.
As it stands, they face a two-legged play-off next month against either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich – to be decided on Friday – for a place in the last 16.
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While City’s domestic form had turned a corner, their extraordinary capitulation at Paris St Germain a fortnight ago meant they had taken just one point from their previous four Champions League – leaving them in this tight corner.
City have reached the knock-out round in every season under Guardiola but here they were facing a win-or-bust scenario.
Still, they were unbeaten at home in Europe in seven years and despite their first-half travails, they live to fight another day.
The fire brigade had been called out two hours before kick-off when a merchandise kiosk caught ablaze just as City were about to parade their January signings on a stage outside the stadium.
Those new boys weren’t eligible for this match, leaving an inexperienced City bench.
John Stones and Kevin De Bruyne returned to the starting line-up after missing out for the 3-1 win over Chelsea.
For Stones it was a first stage of 2015 and he was Beckenbauering about the place, frequently popping up in advanced midfield positions.
Still, it was Brugge who threatened first when Matheus Nunes allowed a long ball to sail over his head, leaving Christos Tzolis bearing down on goal, yet the Greek forward took a bad touch and the danger was averted.
City were bossing possession, naturally, but it was anxious stuff, hot-potato passing.
Phil Foden – playing on the left despite having moaned about playing on the left – flashed a shot wide from out wide.
Ilkay Gundogan steered a shot inside the far post, only to have been spotted offside from a Bernardo Silva pass.
Haaland tried to nod across goal when he ought to have gone for goal, then the Norwegian released De Bruyne who blazed over when the De Bruyne of old would have slotted home.
When Guardiola himself slipped and fell while trying to retrieve a ball from the Bruges technical area, it seemed to sum up City’s collective lack of cool.
The Belgian side had been well organised in defence, threatening occasionally on the break without picking the correct final pass.
That was until the 44th minute, when Ferran Jutgla kippered the struggling Nunes down the left and squared for Raphael Onyedika to thump past Ederson.
The Etihad was stunned into silence save for the band of Brugge supporters who descended into rapture and enquired of City, in perfect English, ‘who the f***ing hell are you?
Guardiola responded with positivity at half-time, sending on winger Savinho for Gundogan.
And City were straight at it, Stones heading narrowly wide from a De Bruyne cross before the equaliser arrived.
This was all about Kovacic – the man filling in for Ballon d’Or man Rodri.
The Croatian picked up possession on the halfway line and motored upfield to the edge of the box before he steered his shot through the legs of a defender and past Simon Mignolet, who ought to have done better.
There were some scruffy moments before City took the lead – Guardiola was booked for charging down the touchline to remonstrate after the referee played an advantage and City squandered it.
Then Tzolis saw one shot saved by Ederson and fired another one just wide.
But after De Bruyne dragged a close-range effort horribly wide, City were in front.
Savinho played a sweet pass to release Josko Gvardiol, whose low centre was turned into his own net by Joel Ordonez.
Ederson made a smart stop to deny Chemsdine Talbi shot – but Savinho was instrumental as City settled the match.
First the Brazilian had a shot cleared brilliantly off the line by the masked defender Brandon Mechele off the line.
Then came the killer third – a cute diagonal pass from Stones which Savinho chested down and drilled past Mignolet, who provided a weak hand and was beaten at his near post.