See How Joe Hart Failed to Stop Jerome Boaten from Scoring at the 90th Minute, Including more Details of Manchester City v Bayern Munich
Every time Manchester City play Bayern Munich they see how high the Champions League pinnacle is. They learn that Abu Dhabi's billions are no guarantee of success against elite clubs who know every blade of grass in this competition. - See more at:
Per INDEPENDENCE.IE
So you can start with all the fancy theories you want. This is Man City's time in Europe; time to match domestic supremacy with success on the Elysian fields of Germany and Spain. But then the game kicks off and the scale of the task becomes clear all over again. Manchester City will not win the Champions League just because an absentee owner in a gulf state says it really is about time they did. There are no automatic graduations - as Jerome Boateng demonstrated with a 90th-minute winner for Bayern that finally broke Joe Hart's resistance.
The last time Bayern trotted out here in Champions League action they went down to their biggest defeat in Europe: a 4-0 caning by Real Madrid in last season's semi-final second-leg, which cast doubt on the Pep Guardiola religion imported from Barcelona.
As the group-stage rivalry between these two clubs resumed, the depleted Bundesliga champions were still able to field Manuel Neuer, Boateng, Philipp Lahm, Mario Gotze and Thomas Muller.
They retain their ability to turn defenders into central midfielders – this time David Alaba, who joined Lahm, mostly a full-back for Germany; and they reaffirmed their talent for buying just the right kind of player to add to huge existing strength.
Robert Lewandowski, whose touch was off in the first-half, was followed to the Allianz Arena by Xabi Alonso, who will provide more of the midfield defensive security they lacked in that 4-0 defeat by Alonso's old club. Another major addition was the Roma centre-back, Mehdi Benatia.
They, too, have faced problems of ego, imbalance and integration, but the hope is that Manuel Pellegrini has ushered in a period of stability and calm. Without it, the English champions would be just another constellation of hired guns, with no deep feeling for the club.
Their first two Champions League adventures ended at the group stage and last season they went only one step further, to the last 16.
Winning the Premier League title in May presented these players with a problem to go with their champagne. No longer could they claim to be in a "developmental stage", preoccupied with establishing their hold over Manchester and England.
No: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the measuring stick now, and Bayern's injuries seemed to matter less than they would to any other club, because Alaba put on a wonderfully athletic show in midfield, and Lahm confirmed again that he might have been the German Paul Scholes had he not started out as a defender.
An assured start by City soon turned into an ordeal, with even Hart feeling the heat around the hour mark. Twice the hero of the first half flapped at crosses.
For City to fulfil the "time to deliver" rhetoric, many things must happen.They need Hart to be in the same reliability ballpark as Neuer, Yaya Toure to maintain his control and locomotion for a whole game, Kompany to limit the costly mistakes in his otherwise formidable game, Sergio Aguero to be fully fit more often, Jesus Navas to rip down the right and Samir Nasri to win games rather than merely decorate them.
They will need team spirit and fierce hunger in this most difficult of competitions, as well as tournament cunning.
Not much to ask then. By the time Robben came on for Muller, City were starting to feel that surviving a trip here is a feat in itself, regardless of last year's win. As Sheikh Mansour sends the money to Manchester, he can demand whatever he wants. But the small pocket of City fans here are not blind to the reality that England's champions are still not likely winners of this competition.
But they must attack it all the same, and draw encouragement from a tough night in (© Daily Telegraph, London)
Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart fails to stop Jerome Boateng's shot
in the final minutes of the Champions League game against Bayern Munich
at the Allianz Arena.
Per INDEPENDENCE.IE
So you can start with all the fancy theories you want. This is Man City's time in Europe; time to match domestic supremacy with success on the Elysian fields of Germany and Spain. But then the game kicks off and the scale of the task becomes clear all over again. Manchester City will not win the Champions League just because an absentee owner in a gulf state says it really is about time they did. There are no automatic graduations - as Jerome Boateng demonstrated with a 90th-minute winner for Bayern that finally broke Joe Hart's resistance.
The last time Bayern trotted out here in Champions League action they went down to their biggest defeat in Europe: a 4-0 caning by Real Madrid in last season's semi-final second-leg, which cast doubt on the Pep Guardiola religion imported from Barcelona.
As the group-stage rivalry between these two clubs resumed, the depleted Bundesliga champions were still able to field Manuel Neuer, Boateng, Philipp Lahm, Mario Gotze and Thomas Muller.
They retain their ability to turn defenders into central midfielders – this time David Alaba, who joined Lahm, mostly a full-back for Germany; and they reaffirmed their talent for buying just the right kind of player to add to huge existing strength.
Robert Lewandowski, whose touch was off in the first-half, was followed to the Allianz Arena by Xabi Alonso, who will provide more of the midfield defensive security they lacked in that 4-0 defeat by Alonso's old club. Another major addition was the Roma centre-back, Mehdi Benatia.
They, too, have faced problems of ego, imbalance and integration, but the hope is that Manuel Pellegrini has ushered in a period of stability and calm. Without it, the English champions would be just another constellation of hired guns, with no deep feeling for the club.
Their first two Champions League adventures ended at the group stage and last season they went only one step further, to the last 16.
Winning the Premier League title in May presented these players with a problem to go with their champagne. No longer could they claim to be in a "developmental stage", preoccupied with establishing their hold over Manchester and England.
No: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the measuring stick now, and Bayern's injuries seemed to matter less than they would to any other club, because Alaba put on a wonderfully athletic show in midfield, and Lahm confirmed again that he might have been the German Paul Scholes had he not started out as a defender.
An assured start by City soon turned into an ordeal, with even Hart feeling the heat around the hour mark. Twice the hero of the first half flapped at crosses.
For City to fulfil the "time to deliver" rhetoric, many things must happen.They need Hart to be in the same reliability ballpark as Neuer, Yaya Toure to maintain his control and locomotion for a whole game, Kompany to limit the costly mistakes in his otherwise formidable game, Sergio Aguero to be fully fit more often, Jesus Navas to rip down the right and Samir Nasri to win games rather than merely decorate them.
They will need team spirit and fierce hunger in this most difficult of competitions, as well as tournament cunning.
Not much to ask then. By the time Robben came on for Muller, City were starting to feel that surviving a trip here is a feat in itself, regardless of last year's win. As Sheikh Mansour sends the money to Manchester, he can demand whatever he wants. But the small pocket of City fans here are not blind to the reality that England's champions are still not likely winners of this competition.
But they must attack it all the same, and draw encouragement from a tough night in (© Daily Telegraph, London)
Comments