Man City let three goal lead slip in second half collapse
SECOND HALF COLLAPSE: PEP Guardiola lurched into full-blown crisis last night, watching his team concede three times to Feyenoord in the space of 14 minutes late in their Champions League tie to cap a remarkable Manchester City collapse. Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty Images
PEP Guardiola lurched into full-blown crisis last night, watching his team concede three times to Feyenoord in the space of 14 minutes late in their Champions League tie to cap a remarkable Manchester City collapse.
City had led 3-0 until their late implosion which was completed in the 89th minute when Igor Paixao beat Emerson to a long ball forward, heading past the stranded keeper.
The winger reached the by-line before picking out David Hancko with a superb cross which the defender headed in for an unbelievable Dutch equaliser that means City have now not won in six games.
Yet, for much of the evening, it had looked as though Haaland had rescued City, as he struck twice in the space of eight minutes, either side of halftime, to give City an apparently unassailable lead.
His first came just before the interval, after he was bundled to the ground by Quinten Timber and Romanian referee Radu Petrescu’s on-field call of a penalty was confirmed by VAR.
The striker, as he has so often in his City career, made no mistake from the spot, his tremendous left-foot hit giving the keeper no chance as it flew into the Feyenoord goal.
Soon after the restart, Ilkay Gundogan added a second before Haaland scored City’s third, and his own second of the night, on 52 minutes with a goal that, finally, after a month of hardships, looked like the champions of old.
Gundogan started the attack with a sweeping pass out to the right wing which Matheus Nunes took in his stride before delivering a low cross which Haaland met, sliding in to covert from six yards.
It was his 46th goal in 44 Champions League games, a astonishing tally that took him one above Mo Salah and level, in 13th place in the all-time scoring charts, with the legends Eusebio and Filippo Inzaghi.
For all the doomsday talk around the Etihad, City had made a confident start against the Dutch visitors - although, of course, the same could have been said on Saturday when Tottenham inflicted the first ever four goal defeat they have suffered at the Etihad.
Once the game got underway, at least City showed a n impressive level of aggression. After just nine minutes, Haaland headed against the post, with keeper Timon Wellenreuther dong well to scramble the ricochet to safety.
It was all reminiscent of the Tottenham debacle when City had started well but conceded to the visitors’ first attack. If Paixao had done better from Feyenoord’s first foray forward, volleying wildly over the bar on 22 minutes, then the night could have become instantly problematic.
Instead, City bit back and Foden pivoted skilfully on the edge of the area second later, sending a low shot arrowing towards the far corner of the net and forcing Wellenreuther into another impressive save.
Paixao remained a threat, however, swapping passes with Inbeom Hwang before curling a shot straight at Ederson as Feyenoord attempted to hit City down a right flank which was often under-manned when Rico Lewis stepped up into midfield.
Hwang, himself, soon threatened, with a terrific hit from a half-cleared corner that flew off Nunes and was cleared to safety as City remained uncharacteristically vulnerable.
But, after Haaland had charged through to win a corner just before the break, Timber’s foul on the City striker handed the hosts a much-needed opener.
Gundogan doubled the lead on 49 minutes, volleying in, via a kind deflection off David Hancko, after Gvardiol had laid a Foden corner into his path on the edge of the area.
Finally, it was all so routine - as so much of Guardiola's reign at City has been - and the Premier League champions looked well on course to secure a top-eight finish in the Champions League standings.
But wait. City reminded us of their current fragility on 75 minutes when Gvardiol’s terrible back pass was intercepted by Anis Hadj Moussa who rounded Ederson and rolled the ball into the net, leaving Guardiola with his head in his hands.
It was a sign of worse to come.
Just seven minutes later, Paixao’s far-post ball was turned across goal by Jordan Lotomba for Santiago Gimenez to chest the ball over the line.
City’s decline had been heralded by a triple substitution made by Guardiola after 69 minutes although one of those replacements, Kevin De Bruyne, at least hit the bar as his team pressed for a fourth.
But, on the final whistle, a stunned Etihad was left to ponder yet another alarming chapter in their recent slide.
That gave the 4,000 visiting Feyenoord fans plenty to cheer and they remained in good voice, serenading their hosts with chants about their former manager Arne Slot and singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” the anthem of the Dutchman’s current employers.
When City next hear that tune, at Anfield on Sunday, it will be an even sterner test of their recovery than Slot’s former club could offer last night.
: Ederson 5; Lewis 5, Akanji 6, Ake 6 (McAtee 69, 5), Gvardiol 4; Silva 6, Gundogan 7 (De Bruyne 69, 6), Nunes 6; Foden 7 (Simpson-Pusey 69, 5), Haaland 8, Grealish 5. Substitutes (not used) Oretga, Carson, Walker, Dias, Savinho, Wright, O’Reilly, Wilson-Esbrand.
: Wellenreuther 8; Nieuwkoop 6 (Lotomba 72, 8), Trauner 5, Hancko 5, Smal 6 (Beelen 68, 6); Hwang 6, Milambo 6 (Zerrouki 68, 7), Timber 6; Moussa 6, Carranza 6 (Gimenez 72, 7), Paixão 9. Substitutes (not used) Biljow, Ka, Gonzalez, Ivanusec, Mitchell, Zechiel, Redmond.
R Petrescu (Romania) 7
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