Boateng’s late strike gives City the blues

Bayern Munich 1 Manchester City 0

The day before this game their captain, Vincent Kompany, said the time for talking was over and that they had to win the Champions League to repay the lavish €1.2bn investment of their owner, Sheikh Mansour.

As such a draw here would have been a fantastic start and it appeared in reach thanks largely to a stunning display from their goalkeeper, Joe Hart.

Then, in the final minute, they were made to pay for one lapse in concentration. Any of Vincent Kompany, Fernandinho or David Silva should have cleared but none of them did. Instead Bayern’s centre-back – and former City player – Jerome Boateng lashed home a tremendous volley that even Hart could not keep out.

It was cruel, but football tends to be. With Roma, runners-up in Serie A last season and convincing winners over CSKA Moscow in the other group game, extremely dangerous opponents City are not guaranteed even to progress from their group.

With Mansour thought to be judging Manuel Pellegrini – in the stands here as he served the second game of a touchline ban – on his performance in Europe that could be disastrous.

If there was a silver lining it was in the performance of Hart, who has endured a difficult 18 months, with his form leading to him being dropped by Pellegrini last season. Indeed, when Pellegrini signed Willy Caballero this summer many thought Hart could be moving on.

Instead he has kept his place and was simply superb in the face of an early Bayern onslaught. He was fortunate, too, as he was twice rounded by Thomas Muller and Robert Lewandowski only for the forwards to hit the side-netting, but he earned his luck.

His saves from Muller and Mario Gotze, in particular, were special. Even the man in goal at the other end of the stadium, Bayern’s World Cup winning star Manuel Neuer, must have nodded his head in appreciation. Neuer is the goalkeeper many thought Hart would turn out to be, but there is still time, particularly as he is just 27.

It seemed Hart had done enough, and this threatened to turn into a disheartening evening for the hosts.

They came out determined to prove their last Champions League game – the 4-0 semi-final second leg defeat here to Real Madrid in April – was behind them and that they could tap in to the success of the World Cup winning spine that runs through their team.

If they had scored early, as they certainly should have done, they could well have pushed on and scored many more. As it was, one was enough, but they created five outstanding chances in the first-half alone, the first of them within 60 seconds and without a City player touching the ball.

Gotze, scorer of the winning goal in that World Cup Final in Rio, was allowed far too much time and slipped the ball through for Muller. The forward rounded Hart but could only find the side-netting. He should have scored.

Bayern continued in the same vein, with Hart saving superbly from Muller, Gotze and David Alaba in quick succession.

The home side’s pressing was too much for City to cope with, although they had their moments as Edin Dzeko curled wide and Bacary Sagna forced Manuel Neuer to punch the ball away from under his crossbar.

Yet Pellegrini, watching on from the stands, would have been concerned at how easily his side were being taken apart. City had kept just three clean sheets in their previous 20 Champions League games and they were naiive at times, with Fernandinho bypassed far too easily as the likes of Muller and Gotze were allowed to run at their back four time and again.

City tightened up after the interval, looking most at threat when Hart misjudged Rafinha’s cross and had to scramble back to keep out Juan Bernat’s follow-up effort.

Bayern claimed a penalty when a loose ball struck Fernandinho but they seemed to be running out of ideas, having failed to take any of their first-half chances.

Indeed, City should have taken the lead when David Silva headed wide from Jesus Navas’ pin-point cross and there was clear tension in the stadium – most of it taken out on Lewandowski, who has made a slow start to life in Munich after his summer move from Borussia Dortmund.

City also had a decent shout for a penalty when Mehdi Benatia appeared to clatter David Silvas, but it seemed unlikely to matter as the game drew to a close.

Then City offered Bayern one last chance and Boateng made them pay to leave the visitors with an uphill task to make it out of the group.

BAYERN MUNICH: Neuer 7, Rafinha 6 (Pizarro, 84; 6), Boateng 8, Benatia 7 (Dante, 85; 6), Bernat 6, Lahm 7, Alonso 7, Alaba 7, Muller 7 (Robben, 76; 6), Gotze 6, Lewandowski 5.

MANCHESTER CITY: Hart 9, Sagna 8, Kompany 7, Demichelis 8, Clichy 8, Navas 6 (Kolarov, 88; 6), Toure 6, Fernandinho 7, Nasri 5 (Milner, 58; 6), Silva 6, Dzeko 5 (Aguero, 74; 6).

Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain).