CHAMPION LEAGUE PREVIEW

HAMPIONS LEAGUE
Manchester City
1 vs 1
Real Madrid CF
Played
November 21, 2012 8:45
PM WAT
Etihad Stadium — Manchester
Referee: G. Rocchi
Attendance: 45740
73′ (PG) Sergio Agüero Karim
Benzema 10′
Preview Team News
Play by Play Lineups & Stats
Match Report Player Ratings
Top of the Match
Luka Modric
Real Madrid CF
Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid CF
Flop of the Match
Edin Dzeko
Manchester City
Cristiano Ronaldo
Real Madrid CF
Goal.com Rating Fans' Rating
Manchester City 1-1 Real
Madrid: Hosts crash out despite
Aguero leveller
Roberto Mancini's team are
eliminated from the Champions
League after drawing their
third consecutive home
encounter in the group stages
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By Wayne Veysey at Etihad
Stadium
Manchester City staged another
late recovery but were eliminated
from the Champions League
following a 1-1 draw against 10-
man Real Madrid.
A late minute Sergio Aguero
penalty gave the scoreline some
respectability for Roberto
Mancini's team but a sober
evening showed how far they
have to go to compete on the
highest club stage with a team of
Real's calibre.
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Ramos shocked by Man City's
CL failings
Jose Mourinho's side took an
early grip of the match through a
10thminute Karim Benzema
volley that they never looked like
relinquishing until City threw
caution to the wind late on.
Alvaro Arbeloa was sent off after
conceding a soft penalty when
he clipped Aguero with 17
minutes left and the Argentine
stepped up to level the scores.
But it was not enough to stop
City exiting the competition with
one match to play, as Real joined
group leaders Borussia
Dortmund in the knockout
stages.
Mancini, whose name was sung
in bursts during the second half
by City fans perhaps wary of a
Chelsea-style boardroom sniper
attack, was once again a
frustrated figure as his miserable
Champions League record
continued.
He is now facing a battle to even
compete in the post-Christmas
Europa League, with even victory
in Dortmund in a fortnight not a
guarantee that City will finish
third in the group.
On a chilly night that should have
been the most glamorous
European occasion in the club's
history, there was instead a
distinctly low key feel as the blue
moon remained in the shadow
of the continent's elite.
City's players, knowing
qualification for the group stages
was all but impossible, appeared
to go through the motions early
on as they struggled to adapt to
Mancini's 3-4-1-2 formation,
which saw Pablo Zabaleta joining
Vincent Kompany and Matija
Nastasic in central defence.
Real, wearing racing green,
accelerated through the gears in
the opening 20 minutes as they
carved open City's leaky defence
at will.
Xabi Alonso, Sami Khedira and
Luka Modric dominated the
midfield to allow Ronaldo and
Angel Di Maria to frighten the
lives out of a defence which has
been so shaky this season.
Ronaldo was in particularly
irrepressible form, dancing his
way down the left-wing to take
advantage of the gap between
rampaging wing-back Maicon
and the floundering Kompany.
Somehow, the visitors only had
Benzema's early goal to show for
their initial excellence. In what
has been a familiar theme this
season, City played Di Maria
onside, the Argentine swung in a
ball that found Benzema in
oceans of space on the edge of
the six-yard box and the
Frenchman gleefully belted in the
opener.
Ronaldo was a hair's breadth
from doubling Real's advantage
five minutes later but Nastasic
made a rare invaluable
contribution by hacking the
winger's finish off the line.
City dominated first-half
possession, with 61 per cent of
the play, but this was merely a
footnote to the story of an
opening period in which they
were fortunate to be only a goal
down.
Mancini threw caution to the
wind after the break, sending on
Carlos Tevez after an hour to join
Aguero and Edin Dzeko in attack.
Galvanised by the home crowd,
City were far more penetrative
and, for the third successive
home game in this season's
Champions League, staged a late
recovery.
After 73 minutes, Aguero burst
into the box and was clipped
from behind by Arbeloa on the
edge of the penalty box. The
right-back, who was already on a
yellow, received his marching
orders and Aguero stepped up
to coolly slot home the spot-kick.
It proved to be too little and too
late, as City are once again left to
reflect on their shortcomings in
Europe.
Manchester City
1
Joe Hart
Goa