Manchester City suffered their first defeat of the season as they narrowly lost 2-1 to Shakhtar Donetsk at the Metalist Stadium in the Champions League group stages.
Pep Guardiola’s men came into this game on the back of winning their first five Champions League group matches, with their most recent win at home to Feyenoord in a 1-0 win for City. The hosts Shakhtar were in need of a win to qualify for the knockout stages alongside the Citizens, with Napoli needing to win their final game away to Feyenoord for a chance of reaching second place. They also needed City to win their game tonight.
The hosts took the lead after 26 minutes when Brazilian playmaker Bernard curled in a fantastic shot past Ederson. Six minutes later, it was 2-0 to the Ukrainian side as Ismaily took advantage of a rare mistake from Ederson to tap in to an empty net. It could have been much worse for City’s makeshift defensive line if it hadn’t been for the heroics of Ederson throughout the half.
In the second half, City sharpened up and were much better going forward. They had a number of chances to grab a goal back, with Gabriel Jesus hitting the post after good build-up play from Brahim Diaz. The Citizens got their goal in added time when Bohdan Butko fouled Jesus to give the away side a penalty. Sergio Aguero, coming off the bench, converted the spot kick to give City a deserved consolation goal.
A deserved win for Shakhtar as they go into the last 16 draw on Monday night. City, having already won the group, will feel slightly aggrieved to have not carried on their winning run in all competitions.
Here are our player ratings from the match.
