Tuesday night, on Match Day 2, saw the eagerly-awaited Champions League tie between Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
Build Up
Both teams were in good form – very good form. Manchester City had five wins and a draw from their opening six league games, plus a stroll through to the next round of the Carling Cup. Their opening Champions League game however was less of a success, labouring to a 1-1 home draw with Napoli, whose superb counter-attacking and resolute defending caused no end of problems.
Bayern Munich’s form had been imperious. After a shock opening-day defeat, they had clocked up nine wins on the trot, without conceding a single goal. Many in the German press have already conceded the title race to them, and it does look highly likely that they will win the League even at this early stage, after a disappointing previous season – and all this without a fully fit Arjen Robben, who only now is close to returning to a starting spot in the team. There is a growing sense in Germany that new manager Jupp Heynckes is building something special.
“Barcelona are a great team but we are getting close,” Franck Ribéry, their French attacker, said recently. “I have never seen a Bayern team as strong as the one we have now. If we carry on playing the way we are, nobody can stop us.“
Mancini however was in bullish mood, bigging up City’s prospects. “Our lives have changed,” Mancini said. “Sometimes, in football, life can change. We, too, are a top club now. We are a good team and we can play against Munich without a problem. And this is a game we must win. Why not? We are not here to lose the game. We are here to win. Yes, we know it will be difficult but we don’t want to stand still.“
The Match
Credit Manchester City for one thing – life with them is never dull. The game was Bayern Munich’s 151st Champions League game – it was Manchester City’s second, and this statistic may shed some light on how the game panned out in the end.
City started well. Passing the ball around fluently, they were getting into plenty of dangerous positions, getting a healthy amount of possession and causing the Bayern defence problems in front of a 66,000 crowd. They should have had two penalties too, for fouls on Silva and Richards – the foul on Richards being clear-cut on replays.
However, as time progressed, Bayern improved, and City lost their grip on the match; the attacking full-backs got forward less, and the shots stacked up on the City goal. Just before the deadlock was broken City had a major escape, with Bastian Schweinsteiger shooting over from just a few yards out. The reprieve was short-lived however, as Gomez poked in on 38 minutes after Joe Hart saved Franck Ribery’s fierce shot and Muller’s follow up shot, and Gomez reacted quickest to another Hart stop before half-time to poach his 11th goal of the season in front of a static Kolo Toure, after Van Buyten has flicked on a free-kick conceded by Dzeko. .
The second half followed a similar theme. City looked deflated, and just couldn’t retain possession. Bayern hassled the City team relentlessly, and their fluent link up play failed to deliver further goals only due to the excellent performance of Joe Hart, who made a number of great saves, whilst Gomez spurned an excellent chance for a hattrick. With the likes of Lahm, Muller, Schweinsteiger and especially Ribery excelling, there was no way back for City. But the main action however was going on off the pitch.
Carlos Tevez
Manchester City never seem to just lose a match – there is always an accompanying drama, and during the Bayern Munich match, the club excelled itself. It started with the substitution of Edin Dzeko early(ish) in the 2nd half; a move which he did not take very well, venting his frustration on the bench. Mancini later commented that this reaction has earnt him a place on the bench for City’s next match, but Dzeko is a professional and hopefully the matter is over, and he will learn his lesson. The big talking point was going on further down the bench though, as it soon became apparent that Carlos Tevez had refused to warm up and go on the pitch as a second substitute. Heated debates (or arguments) could be seen going on for a good 15 minutes.
After the match, Mancini looked angry, shocked, almost dazed. He stated that Tevez will never play for the team again. He will speak to the owners in the coming days to decide on the next course of action, but it seems certain now that Tevez’s days are numbered – in that second half he crossed a line, showing a disgusting lack of respect not only for his manager, the fans, but also his collegaues. And, as usual, he failed to get his story straight, and no doubt fed by his “advisor” and close friend Kia Joorabchian, changeded his story the following day, claiming he did not refuse to play, having said after the match he wasn’t physically or mentally capable of playing. Only a fool would believe this pack of lies.
The incident seems to have proved a watershed with the fans too. Tevez has always, as he stated last night, continued to enjoy a good relationship with the fans despite his repeated transfer requests and troublesome behaviour – mainly due to the fact he always continued to give 100% on the pitch.
Not any more – after the match Twitter and football message boards were ablaze with comments from City fans stating in no uncertain terms what they thought of him – whilst he will still have support with a minority of supporters, he has lost the vital backing of the majority of fans. The best thing for everyone now is a stint in the reserves and a January move – on City’s terms, for a fair market price. He has burnt his bridges in English football, but there will be plenty of takers abroad – Corinthians are still the favourites (if they have any money), or maybe even Paris St. Germain.
Future Prospects
Bayern Munich can expect to qualify easily now for the knockout stages of the Champions League, and enjoy great success domestically too.
For City, a league challenge is looking a possibility, but in the Champions League, they have everything to do, but with plenty of time to recover. They are already fighting for second place at best in all probability, and are 3 points behind Napoli with four games to play. With Villareal coming up twice in the next month or so, they will need to secure an absolute minimum of four points out of the two games, and in all likelihood pick up something at home to Bayern Munich and away to Napoli to progress further and avoid dropping into the Europa League, or out of Europe altogether.
The campaign is already beginning to prove that there is no substitute for experience – the players may have it, but City do not, and they will have to up their game to reach the knockout round.