Manchester City fell short against RB Leipzig in their final game in Group A, as Dominik Szoboszlai and Andre Silva punished Man City's key weaknesses at the back. City were already qualified, however, and topped the group.

With Manchester City already qualified for the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, many fans expected a young, inexperienced side to face their German opponents, RB Leipzig. 

A starting lineup consisting of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez indicated that Pep Guardiola had other plans.

Man City had multiple young options to come off the bench, however.

Story of the match

Despite a quiet start to the game, Leipzig were slowly growing into the game and almost opened the scoring through Konrad Laimer with a cheeky shot from a tight angle. Zack Steffen did well to get down low to deny the Austrian. 

Dominik Szoboszlai carved open the City defence halfway through the first half. Laimer, arguably Leipzig's best player so far, fed the striker through, who smartly took the ball round Steffen and poked home, despite the best efforts from John Stones to get back.

Embed from Getty Images

A VAR check for offside gave City fans hope, but that quickly dispersed and the goal stood.

Emil Forsberg had the chance to double the home side's lead as the midfielder was left unmarked at the back post but the Swede powered his shot straight at the diving Steffen.

Steffen was forced into action once again, denying Andre Silva was point-blank range. City were lucky not to be further behind.

Moments later, City finally had a real attack, after 40 minutes. Foden forced Péter Gulácsi into a super save, tipping the "Stockport's Iniesta's" shot onto the post.

With half-time on the horizon, De Bruyne had a chance to get City back on level terms from a dead-ball situation. But once again, Gulácsi came to the rescue.

Silva grabbed his sixth goal as Leipzig player as Forsberg found space down the left wing before floating a cross into the attacker, who drilled his shot into the corner. No chance for Steffen.

Riyad Mahrez gave City a lifeline with a deft header at the back post. Zinchenko delivered a fine cross to the Algerian who sneaked in at the back of the pack to make it 2-1.

Embed from Getty Images

It seemed like things were falling City's way in the final 10 minutes, but a Kyle Walker red card threw a spanner in the works and all but handed the win to Leipzig.

2-1 to Leipzig. A disappointing night in Germany.

VAVEL Logo
About the author