Manchester City 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen: Manager Josep Guardiola made almost his entire squad on Tuesday night, but his side suffered their first Champions League defeat of the season against the Germans.
Pep Guardiola replaced feelings of shame and embarrassment at the Etihad with utter humiliation. In a humiliating night that Guardiola will never forget, Manchester City suffered a crushing defeat at home in the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2018.
And Guardiola had only himself to blame. Making the strange decision to name the second string side, he was rewarded with a second-rate performance. Goals in each first half from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick were enough to shock Bayer Leverkusen, but they deserved the win.
Ruining Guardiola’s 100th Champions League game as City manager. It goes without saying that the Spaniard’s attitude towards cameramen like an idiot after his team’s loss to Newcastle last weekend added to the pain.
Leverkusen arrived in Manchester in third place in the Bundesliga. However, the omens still felt against them. City have won all of their last 13 home games against Germany in the Champions League.
But the visitors must have wanted to punch the air when Guardiola’s squad was announced. Big names such as Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Gianluigi Donnarumma were absent.
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A total of 10 changes and a gamble from the Spaniard, who appeared to have wised up after last weekend’s defeat at St James’s Park.
Could it be that he hasn’t saved his strongest squad for this weekend’s game against Leeds United? However, a sharp save from Mark Frecken to deny Nathan Ake denied the hosts the lead within five minutes.
But despite their dominant possession, City lacked a final product. And Leverkusen took the lead with a powerful punch in the dying minutes of the first half, when Grimaldo fired a shot past James Trafford and into the bottom corner after Christian Cofane was sent off.
Tijani Lijnders should have equalized at half-time, but as City’s frustrations began to grow, he fired straight at Frekken. Guardiola had seen enough and sent in big arms in Foden and Jeremy Dok. But the second experiment of the night exploded in his face again as Leverkusen doubled their lead with a goal from Schick, who beat Trafford with a superb downward header from a cross from Ibrahim Maze.
Sabinho then squandered a golden chance to pull one back. Desperate situations call for desperate measures, and Haaland came on the scene in hopes of saving the team. However, he was one-on-one with the goalkeeper and was unable to beat the impressive Frecken, who also denied Rayan Cherki’s curling free-kick.
Haaland volleyed wide over the crossbar after the ball fell gently into the box. For the first time this season, the Norwegian faced the prospect of not conceding two games in a row.
Guardiola stood on the sideline with his hands in his pockets, looking increasingly perplexed. That was understandable. If a player as prolific as Haaland can’t come to the rescue, no one else can.
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