Manchester City make losing start to Champions League after shock defeat by Lyon
Manchester City 1-2 Lyon: The result is unlikely to stop City's charge to the final, but it was a worrying performance
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Your support makes all the difference.So, at the stadium where a home win has become more of a formality than almost anywhere in Europe, and in the competition where the group stage is a mere procession for the super-clubs, we see a shock. And an alarming jolt for Manchester City. They open their Champions League campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Lyon.
That still might not prove too worrying for their chances of progression or even topping the group, but what was worrying was how they seemed to lose their edge as much as losing the game. This was a bad, subdued display.
With Pep Guardiola suspended and in the stands after his frustrated dismissal in last season’s elimination to Liverpool, City just had none of the energy he radiates. They were mostly flat, largely unable to match the life of the excellent Nabil Fekir.
While that might just be coincidental and unfortunate for stand-in manager Mikel Arteta, this was a match where other absences might have mattered for the first time this season. City badly lacked Kevin De Bruyne’s poise, and maybe even lacked a stand-in for Fernandinho, who had what was probably his worst game since Guardiola came to the club.
It all meant there was nothing fortunate about Lyon’s win. They seized the opportunity, seized control of the group, and fully deserved it.
The even deeper worry for City was how lethargic they were from the start, how they’d allowed an apparent complacency to sink into their game so quickly.
The warning signs were there long before Maxwell Cornet’s opening goal.
Most worryingly, it was as if City were so sure of their quality that they stopped displaying any intensity and were instead just waiting for something magic to happen.
Is this Guardiola's real value? Is his intensity in the dressing room needed for City to maintain it on the pitch? Only Sterling was striking out from this in any way, and he was constantly their biggest threat, but not really striking from the best positions. He was only ever fashioning half-chances.
Some of that was admittedly down to how sturdy Lyon were at the back at the first half, led by a former City player. Having spent five years at the club, Jason Denayer was remarkably making his first appearance at the Etihad. He was also making life very difficult for his former employers - especially Gabriel Jesus.
It wasn’t just that City were attacking so poorly, though. It was also how lax they were all over the pitch, while playing dangerously high.
Lyon had spotted this with one launch that almost released Cornet, but it did not lead to City spotting the problem.
All of this came together for the opening goal. Fernandinho first played a bad pass, that eventually saw Fekir race onto it. He completely outstripped Kyle Walker and while the playmaker’s cross was good, it should have been easily dealt with by Fabian Delph. The full-back instead only struggled with it, allowing an oncoming Cornet to power the ball into the corner. The finish - and Lyon’s attacking - had all the conviction that City didn’t.
It seemed like one of those situations when the opposition sensed vulnerability and vigorously went for it.
So it was when Fernandinho played another bad pass, and Fekir offered another sublime finish.
They full-blooded way he just roared through the City half was what we would have expected from the home side’s many attackers, but this was all just so passive.
Then there was the actual passing. It must be a long time since a Guardiola side missed so many square balls, with Fernandinho the main culprit.
The Brazilian’s performance was so uncharacteristically bad that it was one of those nights where it was impossible not to wonder whether they will regret not getting that extra midfielder in the summer, even if they didn’t get who they really wanted in Jorginho.
City did step it up a bit at the start of the second half, but there was still the space for Lyon to exploit, and that saw substitute - and former Manchester United player - Memphis Depay hit the post.
With Lyon edging closer to this big opening surprise, it was far from a surprise that Arteta introduced the nose for goal of Sergio Aguero and pure pace of Leroy Sane.
It had an immediate effect. Sane used that pace to get in down the left and cut back for Bernardo Silva, as he slotted in one of those typical five-a-side goals.
Except, the typical siege didn’t follow. City still couldn’t generate that intensity. Lyon still stood strong. The most dramatic moment of the game’s climax was probably when Ederson almost got caught, but got out of it with a Cruyff turn of his own.
City couldn’t pull it off at the other end. The best they had was an Aguero effort saved.
This was a long, long way from City’s best - and any claim to be the best in Europe.
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