Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Pep Guardiola, not in the mood for nonsense, speaks to BT. “They made a step forward, pressed higher … after the goal we conceded, we came back and had a good last 20 minutes … we had good chances in both halves, and got a result so we decide in Manchester … I am happy for all the game.”
Then a testy exchange with interviewer Matt Smith, who replies: “Even though they came into it in the second half?”
“What do you expect? We play a friendly game here? How many games have you seen from Leipzig?”
“Yes, they’re a good team.”
“So come on! Do you expect us to come here and win 0-5? It is not a reality. It’s a competition where many good teams in the group stage are out. It is difficult. Four games in ten days, away all of those games, all the travel, and people expect? We are a good team that continue to do many things. If people expect us to come here and win 0-4, I’m sorry, we’re not able to do this.”
Jonathan Liew was at the Red Bull Arena tonight, and his verdict is in. Pep Guardiola’s take to come soon.
Pep gathers a few of his men on the pitch and gives them … what? A tactical debrief? A passionate bollocking? It’s not clear, but he doesn’t look particularly happy and Haaland for one looks a bit miffed himself. Ever the perfectionist, Pep’s sure to see this as a missed opportunity, given how dominant his team were in the first half. His mood might not improve when he sees replays of that late, late handball shout, either! BT have just spun the film, and amid the hubbub, Henrichs sticks out two arms, almost bumping the ball in the volleyball style. No set or spike, to be fair. Not sure why VAR didn’t have a closer look at that, but then there’s no second-guessing referees these days. Leipzig might have got away with one there.
The whistle goes and a draw seems about the right result. City were the better team in the first, Leipzig in the second. Off to the Etihad in three weeks’ time!
90 min +3: … play it short. The ball’s eventually swung into the mixer. A minor melee. City claim a handball. Neither referee nor VAR is interested. Nkunku attempts to counter but skitters down a cul-de-sac. And that is going to be that.
90 min +2: One last chance for City, as Mahrez’s presence forces Laimer into the concession of a corner down the left. City load the box, and …
90 min +1: Gvardiol tries to send Werner into space down the left but clanks the ball carelessly out of play for a throw. When he attempts a pass, he really attempts it.
90 min: Ah, seems the referee did remember his cards after all. Henrichs comes through the back of Gundogan, and into the book he goes. There will be a minimum of two added minutes.
89 min: Raum comes on for Halstenberg.
87 min: City seem to have subdued Leipzig now. The hosts were well up for a winner, but now seem more determined not to ship a late sickener. City haven’t given up the ghost, though, and are on the front foot.
85 min: A cross slung into the City box from the left. Henrichs can’t win a header at the far stick. City attempt to break. Poulsen cynically clips Grealish and there goes that dream. No booking, though. This referee is one laid-back dude all right.
84 min: Gvardiol tries to release Poulsen down the middle but over-bloots. The ball flies all the way through to Ederson. A more considered pass might have caused City some bother.
82 min: Haidara and Poulsen come on for Andre Silva and Schlager.
81 min: Mahrez catches Nkunku with a stud on the ankle. The referee, who has admittedly been laissez faire all evening, doesn’t do anything. It was mistimed rather than malicious, and probably not even worthy of a yellow card, but not even a free kick? Nkunku isn’t happy.
79 min: Grealish makes good down the left and crosses low, but Bernardo Silva can’t get a shot away. Meanwhile here’s a health warning from the Government Justin Kavanagh: “Students taking exams and Sunday footballers take note: this Red Bull stuff takes at least 45 minutes to kick in.”
77 min: City slow things down with some of their sterile possession in the middle of the park. Smart game management by the English champions.
76 min: This game is very open now. Leipzig are possibly of a mind that, in all probability, they need to win this leg if they’re to make it through. So they’re going for that precious second goal. Now it’s City who are sitting back and waiting to pounce on the counter.
74 min: City respond well to conceding the equaliser, though. Gundogan meets a low left-wing cross on the edge of the Leipzig D, opens his body, and steers powerfully towards the bottom right. Blaswich sticks out a strong arm to save, pushing the ball away from danger just enough so Haaland can’t follow in at the right-hand post.
72 min: That’s no more than Leipzig deserve. They must wish this version of themselves had turned up for the first half.
Szoboszlai crosses from the right. Walker, under no pressure, concedes a corner. It’s sent in from the left. It’s pulled back to Szoboszlai who arrows a rising shot towards the top left. Ederson tips it around the post spectacularly. Another corner comes in … and City’s defence is all over the show! The ball loops over Ederson, Dias and Ake, and Gvardiol is able to head home from a couple of yards! It had been coming!
68 min: It’s been all Leipzig for a while, so here comes Haaland in an attempt to do something about it. He tears after a long pass and burns his way past Gvardiol down the inside right. He enters the box but drags an uncharacteristically weak effort across goal and wide left.
67 min: Werner nearly releases Andre Silva into the City box with a sliderule pass down the inside-left channel. City swarm and clear. Leipzig continue to press.
66 min: Leipzig need a goal, so he had to come on at some time: here’s their star man Nkunku, replacing Forsberg. Nkunku, you’ll recall, hit a hat-trick at the Etihad last season. He’s got 17 goals already this season, despite missing a chunk of it through injury.
64 min: Forsberg drives down the middle and slips the ball across to Henrichs on the right. Henrichs crosses low. Ake deflects away from danger. Henrichs has been a major feature of this game since coming on at the break.
63 min: Andre Silva hipshakes down the inside-left channel, bursts into the box, and attempts to dink elegantly over Ederson from a tight angle. The keeper makes himself big to save well. Leipzig getting closer.
62 min: Henrichs crosses from the right. Too high. Halstenberg returns it into the City box from the left. There’s nobody there. But this continues to be promising for Leipzig, who have been a different team since the restart.
60 min: Haaland makes a couple of runs down the channels. He’s not spotted by his team-mates. But the big man keeps on keepin’ on.
58 min: That’s got the crowd going as well, so City take the sting out of the game with some sterile domination in the middle of the park. Eventually they creep upfield, Grealish and Bernardo Silva working down the left. Haaland screams for the ball in the middle but doesn’t get it.
56 min: Leipzig have woken up all right. Werner skedaddles down the left and cuts back from the byline. Ederson parries at his near post, batting the ball away from the lurking Forsberg. For the first time this evening, City are being asked a few questions.
55 min: Leipzig create the chance of the match so far. Schlager sashays in from the left and rolls infield for Szoboszlai, who spots Henrichs in acres to his right. He rolls a diagonal pass towards Henrichs, who enters the box one on one with Ederson! He sends his shot across the City keeper … and inches wide of the bottom-left corner. So close to an equaliser!
53 min: A cross sent into the City box from the left. New man Henrichs wins a header, but can only send it harmlessly over the bar from 12 yards. Ederson had it covered.
52 min: Ederson launches long. Haaland rises high to flick on a header for Mahrez, who lays off to Bernardo Silva. He can’t worm his way into the box from the right flank, and the move breaks down. Still, it nearly came off. Pep goes Reep.
50 min: Gundogan bursts down the left, benefitting from Ake’s hassling of Halstenberg. He reaches the byline and pulls back for Mahrez, whose shot can’t make its way through a thicket of players in the six-yard box. Leipzig clear their lines.
49 min: Gvardiol nixes that early second-half momentum by flaying a dismal pass out of play under no pressure whatsoever.
48 min: Leipzig have clearly been given the what-for by coach Marco Rose. They’re snapping into challenges now, getting right up in Manchester City’s grille. Schlager rolls a pass down the left for Halstenberg, who shuttles forward to Werner. The former Chelsea man enters the box but can’t get a shot away. Still, that’s a lot better from the hosts, who have finally turned up.
46 min: An early second-half touch for Haaland. That’s only his eighth of the evening so far. Not ideal, but we know how this kind of thing so often ends.
Leipzig get the second half underway. They’ve replaced Klostermann with Henrichs. “I’m no tactical genius but it will take a drastic change in approach by Leipzig to turn this around. Gatorade. Lucozade. Carabao. Something! Anything!” Peter Oh, ladies and gentlemen. He’s here all week. Try the caffeine, taurine, sucrose and glucose in a solution of carbonated water, baking soda and magnesium carbonate.
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The scoreline flatters the hosts. City have played very well; Red Bull by contrast have misplaced their wings. They’ll need to find them for the second half quicksmart.
45 min +1: Leipzig finally put Ederson to work! Werner dribbles into the City box from the left, sizes up the scene, then curls harmlessly towards the bottom right. At least it’s kept Ederson’s hands warm. Ah, it would have been offside anyway. Still, that’s better than nothing, Leipzig clearing a low bar.
45 min: There will be one minute of added time. “Leipzig are aimless,” writes Ahmed Hassen Jogee. “Man City are playing home away from home and are dominating. Man City and Real Madrid are firm favourites to reach the final.”
44 min: Walker strolls past Andre Silva, who throws both arms over the City man’s shoulder and drags him down. A free kick, but once again the referee isn’t minded to flash a yellow card. In this regard, Leipzig have probably used up their luck now.
42 min: Grealish is hauled back by Klostermann. No punishment for the player, and Grealish is getting a little bit irritated at being constantly fouled. Small mercies, but at least if nothing else, he’s used to such treatment and so shouldn’t get too rattled.
40 min: Halstenberg hares down the left. He’s only got Werner in the box, and sends in a cross about 20 feet over his head. A few moans from the home support now, who aren’t getting much bang for their buck tonight.
39 min: “Jack is having a great game!” observes Nora Mulcahy. Indeed he is, and his determined dribble down the left wins another City corner. Rodri meets it again, sending another header wide right.
38 min: Leipzig’s no-show is costing them eyeballs all over the world. The punters are upping sticks! “I’ll keep following your updates,” promises Joe Pearson of Indianapolis, “but I’m switching to Inter vs Porto, where presumably both teams will actually be playing.”
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RB Leipzig 1-1 Manchester City: Champions League last 16, first leg – as it happened - The Guardian
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