Bavarians Bayern travelled to the Etihad today ready for a battle, but were greeted by a meek surrender from a Manchester City side that look a million miles behind the European champions in every single department.
City were out-passed, out-thought and out-classed on their home turf by illustrious visitors who played with such power, pace and poise that the hosts simply couldn't keep up. Pellegrini's men had absolutely no answer to Pep's boys, as Arjen Robben et al ran riot in this second game of the Champions League group stage.
There had been hope of a repeat performance of City's dominant 4-1 victory over local rivals Manchester United recently, but Bayern stamped their authority on the game early on with a 7th-minute strike from one half of that troublesome twosome on the flanks, Franck Ribery.
The home team huffed and puffed against supremely calm and collected opponents for the remainder of the half and 0-1 is how it remained by the halfway stage.
However, first Thomas Muller - playing in an unfamiliar 'false nine' role - hit home 11 minutes into the second period shortly before Man-of-the-Match Robben compounded City's misery with an easy third.
Alvaro Negredo handed the deflated English club a lifeline after 79 minutes with a fine turn and finish from the edge of the area, but it only provided a brief glimmer of light amid the gloom created by such a one-sided affair in favour of the impressive Germans.
Even the late sending-off involving Bayern centre-back Jerome Boateng with four minutes of normal time left on the clock, plus a subsequent whack of the bar from a David Silva free-kick, didn't detract from the overwhelming evidence on display tonight which suggests it'll be a mightily difficult task for any side to stop the 'Red Machine' from retaining their beloved trophy.
On this showing, Manchester City are no better placed to challenge for European honours than they were last season under deposed manager Roberto Mancini, while Bayern appear at least as strong as they were under Jupp Heynckes in winning an historic treble during a glittering campaign last time around.
Twitter: @davewh1980
No comments:
Post a Comment