Birthday boy Raheem Sterling enjoys his ‘special’ night for Manchester City
Defeat for Juventus at Seville in their final Group D game opened the door for City to finish as group winners and gain a potentially easier passage into the quarter-finals when the draw for the last 16 of the competition is made next Monday.
Having qualified in second spot for the past two seasons and subsequently gone out at the hands of Barcelona, Manuel Pellegrini’s side needed to do everything possible to avoid a repeat.
With 10 minutes to go and trailing 2-1 it looked as though they had blown their chance until three goals in six minutes dramatically and completely transformed their fortunes, inspired by Sterling who scored twice on the day he officially came of age to pay back a huge instalment of his £44m summer transfer fee before substitute Wilfried Bony added the fourth.
Sterling said: “It’s something I have been dreaming of all my life, scoring in the Champions League and scoring on my birthday makes it even more special.
“It’s a brilliant feeling for the boys and we have worked hard and I think we deserved it.
“The most important thing was avoiding the big teams in the next round and trying to get a fair draw and hopefully we can do it over two legs. It’s feet up now with my family and two daughters.”
This was just the response City needed after losing so abjectly in the Premier League at Stoke last Saturday, particularly as they were again missing key men Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero.
It was Aguero’s last-minute penalty that earned City the 2-1 win in Monchengladbach at the end of September which did much to seal their progress to the last 16. That, though, was the Germans’ last defeat under Andre Schubert, whose appointment followed a five-match losing run at the start of the season which he has subsequently turned into a sequence of eight wins and two draws from their last 10 Bundesliga fixtures.
It was, therefore, perhaps no surprise that the visitors started in confident mood, Julian Korb missing the first chance of the night when he shot over after Mahmoud Dahoud had released him for an angled run at goal behind City’s defence.
Pellegrini had insisted the defeat — and the performance at Stoke — had not increased any pressure but there was still a feeling of relief around the Etihad Stadium when Silva put City in front after 15 minutes.
Sterling, operating as a central striker, played a key role with a clever flick which opened up Borussia’s defence. Silva still had a bit to do from an uninviting angle but the power and accuracy of his left-foot shot gave Yann Sommer no chance as he rifled the ball into the roof of the net.
But rather than settle City, the goal appeared to liberate Borussia further and just three minutes later they were level. Fabian Johnson was a constant threat to City down their right flank and when his low cross reached Korb, the midfielder hit a low shot across Joe Hart into the bottom corner.
That was no more than they deserved and while City had their moments on the break through Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne, it was Borussia who looked the more dangerous.
And three minutes before half-time they went 2-1 ahead when City were again exposed on the counter-attack, the ball coming in from the left once more after an initial shot had been blocked, this time Oscar Wendt delivering for Johnson to help the ball onto Raffael, who stabbed a shot past Hart.
That was just about it for Borussia as an attacking force as City then spent almost the entire second half camped in the visitors’ half. But without Aguero, Pellegrini’s side lacks an obvious cutting edge and it wasn’t until the last 10 minutes that the goals finally came.
And fittingly it was Sterling, who led the charge. The birthday boy had been denied three times by Sommer, with his third save from a bottom-corner bound volley the best, before the former Liverpool man cracked it.
Clichy’s cross was his best moment of the night and following a slight touch from Bony, Sterling side-footed home.
With Juventus losing in Seville, City still needed another goal and for good measure they got two, Sterling gleefully curling a perfect side-footed effort beyond Sommer after being released by Bony to claim his sixth City goal.
And Bony then rounded things off when he steered home a shot at the second attempt as City got their season spectacularly back on track.
Hart 6; Clichy 5 (Sagna 80), Otamendi 6, Mangala 5, Kolarov 6; Fernandinho 6, Toure 6; De Bruyne 7 (Navas 65, 7), Silva 7, Delph 6 (Bony 65, 8); Sterling 9. Substitutes: Caballero, Sagna, Maffeo, Adarabioyo, Celina.
Sommer 7; Elvedi 6, Christensen 6, Nordtveit 6, Wendt 8 (Hazard 84); Korb 7, Dahoud 6 (Schulz 67), Xhaka 6, Johnson 8 (Drmic 72); Stindl 7, Raffael 7. Substitutes: Heimeroth, Brouwers, Jantschke, Hrgota.
Danny Makkelie (Netherlands) 8
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
