Manchester City's 100% start to the UEFA Champions League is over, as Atalanta come from behind to rescue a point in a game of two halves.

City still sit top of the group with 10 points after four games, whilst the Italian's record their first point in their debut season in the Champions League.

Story of the match

Atalanta got the game underway in the San Siro, with their home ground not meeting UEFA regulations, with an electric atmosphere ringing around the arena as they hosted the champions of England.

The first chance of the game fell the way of the home side, and underdogs, as Hans Hateboer met the cross from the left flank to volley into the side netting, only raising the decibels further.

A couple of minutes later, the visitors took the lead.

Bernardo Silva played the ball into the area towards Gabriel Jesus, who brilliantly back-heeled to Raheem Sterling to calmly pass past Pierluigi Gollini.

The English winger got a hat-trick in the reverse fixture a couple of weeks ago, and was looking dangerous every time he got on the ball in the early stages.

Following this, there was a ton of pressure from City, asserting their dominance on the match-up and proving why they’re one of the favourites for the competition.

A half chance fell the way of Jesus, who was unable to control Kevin De Bruyne's brilliant cross from deep into the middle, before Sterling had a half-chance under press following Benjamin Mendy’s cross.

On the half hour mark, Sterling was again at the centre of the action and should’ve doubled his tally for the night.

De Bruyne cut the ball back from the by-line towards the winger, who seemed to have time to slot the ball simply into the back of the net, although took too long and was closed down upon striking – a great opportunity.

Riyad Mahrez was next in line to attempt to double City’s lead as he picked the ball up off Jesus, drove onto his left foot and forced a diving save from Gollini.

Five minutes before half-time, City again got forward through Sterling and thought they’d won a penalty as Rafael Toloi brought down the Blues’ number seven, although VAR showed the foul was just outside of the area.

From the following free-kick, City were awarded a penalty as the ball struck the arm of Josip Ilicic in the wall.

Jesus stepped up and dragged his penalty wide – terrible effort.

The half-time whistle went with City somehow only leading by one goal.

One bad piece of news from the first 45 for City was that Ederson had to be replaced by Claudio Bravo at half-time – a potentially huge blow ahead of Sunday’s title showdown with Liverpool.

Out of nowhere early in the second half, the hosts equalised.

Papu Gomez whipped a terrific ball into the area from the left flank where Mario Pasalic waited to expertly head home past Bravo, raising the roof off the San Siro.

The following 20 minutes saw Atalanta playing with a completely different level of energy to the first-half, making it very hard for City to create chances at the rate they did in the first 45.

Into the last 20 minutes, it was the Nerazzurri who looked the most likely to take the lead.

Ilicic's teasing ball into the area was narrowly missed by  Toloi, before Pep Guardiola brought on Sergio Aguero in an attempt to rescue the points for City.

It then got worse for the away side, as Ilicic went through one on one with Bravo, before the substitute 'keeper brought down the attacker and received a red card.

With both of City's 'keepers for the night used, Kyle Walker was brought on to play in between the sticks for Guardiola's side in the last 10 minutes.

The stand-in 'keeper saved a shot straight at him in the latter stages, before City held the ball in the corner to hold on to a point in injury time - an extraordinary situation following their first-half dominance. 

Takeaways from the game

A game of two halves

The first-half saw City completely dominate the game, almost seeing it as a training session, which can’t be said often about teams playing away from home in the Champions League.

Atalanta deserve huge credit for the way they changed the game in the second-half, playing with energy levels much higher than the first, possibly down to strong words from Gian Piero Gasperini at the break after their abysmal first half.

City didn’t take their chances in the first 45, which eventually cost them, which will undoubtedly displease Pep Guardiola.

A Hint towards weekend’s lineup

Ahead of this encounter, it was clear that Guardiola had one eye on this weekend’s crunch tie with Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have 24 hours preparation time on the champions of England, meaning that rotation to keep players fresh was likely from Guardiola.

Tonight Jesus, Joao Cancelo and Mahrez started, who haven’t always been first-team regulars, perhaps hinting that other options could be used at the weekend, such as  Aguero and Walker.

 

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