Manchester City 2 Bayern Munich 0:FOR A long part of the night Manchester City dared to believe everything was falling in place. They were beating the mighty Bayern Munich, looking good to add more goals and building towards a moment of rare euphoria. But then the news began to seep through from Villarreal and all the excitement was replaced by a sudden, damp silence.
The cold, harsh truth is that Napoli’s second-half goals at El Madrigal mean City will not be in the Champions League when the men in suits at Uefa convene for the draw on Friday week.
Roberto Mancini made the point in his programme column that dropping into the Europa League would not be “a disaster” and “not end the season” but, for a club with City’s ambitions, the simple fact is it is a competition they look upon with disdain.
They will go into the last 32 full of regret, however much they try to put on a brave face, and it will probably only heighten their frustration that they are being downgraded on the back of beating a European powerhouse. City have accumulated 10 points in Group A, which is usually the amount needed to qualify, but are being downgraded into that cycle of Thursday-night and Sunday-afternoon football despite a deserved victory courtesy of goals from David Silva and Yaya Toure.
The arithmetic was simple. City had to win and rely on Villarreal not hoisting the white flag. The problem was Villarreal had not managed a solitary point in the competition.
This was not a Bayern line-up to inspire the usual mix of respect and trepidation and they did not play with anything approaching the drive and purpose that overwhelmed City on that now infamous September night in Munich that will almost certainly be remembered as Carlos Tevez’s final act in English football.
Jupp Heynckes, the Bayern coach, had prioritised their Bundesliga fixture against Stuttgart at the weekend, with seven changes from their last match and the clear sense of a team that was not totally going through the motions but, equally, not playing with the focus that would ordinarily be expected.
It was a strangely subdued start and the atmosphere was falling flat before Silva, with one typically elegant swish of that left boot, brought the occasion to life and invigorated the crowd.
An argument is growing at City that Silva might just be the most exquisitely gifted footballer ever to wear their colours. His portfolio this season alone presents a strong case and this was another worthy addition. His shot combined equal measures of power and precision.
It was also taken quickly, having controlled Edin Dzeko’s lay-off with a touch that opened up the angle to shoot. The ball flew into the bottom right-hand corner of Jorg Butt’s net and, suddenly, the complexion of the evening had been drastically altered.
Silva had already put the ball past Butt with a free-kick, intended as a cross, that arched into the top corner only for the French referee, Stephane Lannoy, to rule Joleon Lescott had impeded the goalkeeper.
Bayern were playing with little of their usual poise and, once Silva had scored, it was more in keeping with what we have seen so far this season from City in their Premier League matches. The pressure was almost unrelenting and it required a diving block from Jerome Boateng, formerly of City, to prevent Sergio Aguero from doubling the lead.
It was strange to see such a passive Bayern side. There were only a couple of flashes in the first half when the Bundesliga leaders threatened a defence featuring Stefan Savic at right-back because of injuries to Micah Richards and Pablo Zabaleta. Savic, signed from Partizan Belgrade in the summer for €7 million, is a centre-half by trade and could feasibly have been identified as a weak link. Yet there were large swaths of the match when Bayern gave the impression they were not maybe as bothered about putting City out of the competition as Mancini and many others had suspected.
Their lethargy could probably be epitomised by the mistake from Holger Badstuber that allowed Toure to steal in and poke the second goal beyond Butt. It was the culmination of a neat exchange of passes involving Aguero and Dzeko.
Toure had also been involved in the build-up and deserves credit for continuing his drive from midfield, surging into the penalty area, anticipating his colleagues would find a way to pick him out. Even so, Badstuber had the chance to clear the danger. Toure darted in to prod the ball beyond the oncoming Butt. Two-nil up, the focus switched to Spain. The news, though, was bad.
Guardian Service
MAN CITY:Hart, Savic, Kompany, Lescott,Clichy, Toure Yaya (Balotelli 81), Barry, Nasri,Aguero, Silva (Johnson 83), Dzeko (De Jong 77). Subs Not Used: Pantilimon, Zabaleta,Milner, Toure.
BAYERN MUNICH: Butt, Rafinha, Boateng,Badstuber, Contento, Tymoschuk, Gustavo,Olic, Pranjic, Alaba, Petersen (Usami 81). Subs Not Used: Neuer,Van Buyten,Ribery,Lahm,Muller,Gomez. Booked: Olic, Gustavo.
Referee: Stephane Lannoy(France).
