Manchester City made the trip to a surprisingly loud closed doors Khimki Arena on Tuesday afternoon needing to grab a win to keep any hopes of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages alive, but threw away a 2-0 half-time lead to draw 2-2 after a very disappointing second-half performance. This leaves City third in the group with just three games to play, and two points behind AS Roma.
The match saw Eliaquim Mangala return to the side after missing out on Saturday due to a groin injury, but he won’t be the only one on the receiving end of some criticism after letting the two goal lead slip.
The first half start with Ahmed Musa trying to act on his claim that City’s defence is “very weak”, trying to exploit balls that fell his way from distance. His efforts did send Joe Hart diving but neither was really troubling the English goalkeeper, and eventually City moved to take control of the game in the first period. Pablo Zabaleta came close early on with a volley inside the box that went just wide, but that was the last real chance before Agüero put the away side in front on 29 minutes.
After Pablo Zabaleta won possession back from CSKA, the ball eventually fell to David Silva in the opposition half, who didn’t hesitate to chip the ball over the top to Edin Džeko. He ran through on goal with nothing but Agüero in the way of support; as Akinfeev closed down on the Bosnian striker, Džeko simply slid the ball low to Sergio Agüero, who had an open net in which to aim for. It was a simple matter for the Argentina international to score his fifth in two games and send the away side in front.
Nine minutes later, James Milner continued his run as the only English player to score a Champions League goal for The Blues. Yaya Touré played a scathing ball from out on the left which found Pablo Zabaleta in the right-hand side of the CSKA box; the right-back headed it down to his compatriot Agüero, who’s miscued shot found its way through to James Milner from close-range, who slid in to double the English side’s lead.
Milner could have had a second a minute later when he hit the post from a tight angle when Džeko missed the ball from a low cross when he was tripped from behind. That incident in itself could easily have been a penalty but nothing was given, and Milner hit the post with a powerful effort from the cross that Edin missed seconds earlier. That was the last real incident of note in the first half and City went in at the break with a pleasing 2-0 lead.
CSKA brought on Seydou Doumbia, the man who scored twice against The Blues last season, ahead of the second half in a bid to salvage something from the game. It wasn’t long before it looks like his night was over when he got stretchered off following a bad challenge from Fernando that saw the Brazilian booked. However Doumbia got his revenge minutes later, when he put the ball in from close range to halve the deficit.
Manuel Pellegrini brought on Jesús Navas and Fernandinho to try and keep the points safe, but could do nothing to prevent the extremely questionable penalty awarded to CSKA Moscow on 85 minutes. Seydou Doumbia was involved once again, making a meal of a soft challenge from behind by Kolarov. To the surprise of the 200 CSKA fans who managed to make it into the ground, as well as everyone watching, Istvan Vad didn’t hesitate to blow his whistle and point to the spot. Nacho took the penalty and put a good finish past Joe Hart into the side of the net to equalise.
Both sides then tried to press on for a winner, but neither side produced anything note-worthy. Eventually, the referee blew his whistle on a disheartening night for The Blues. This result just shows again that City lack the mental strength to close out games in Europe, and that has been their main failing in recent years. They have the ability to go through, but just can’t. It’s still possible to go through but it seems increasingly more unlikely as each winless game goes by.
