Manchester City 1 Lyon 2: City stunned in shock Champions League home defeat

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Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_19 September 2018

This should have been the night that Manchester City, kings of England, flew out of the blocks and set out to conquer the final frontier, European glory.

Instead, the Etihad faithful were fed a period of lethargic sloppiness, followed by another of spirited, but ultimately toothless fightback, as City slipped to a 2-1 home defeat against Lyon in their Champions League opener.

First half goals from Maxwell Cornet and Nabil Fekir gave the French side a shock lead, and though Bernado Silva hit back, the visitors held on for only their second win over English opposition in this competition.

Pep Guardiola reverted to the tactic of sacrificing a winger for the more conservative Ilkay Gundogan, but just as it did in the infamous defeat at Anfield in last season's quarter-final, the move did more to blunt his side’s attacking verve than to shore things up defensively.

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Sergio Aguero was not fit to start, and sat alongside Leroy Sane and Riyad Mahrez on the bench, as only Raheem Sterling, who had ex-Manchester United man Rafael on toast, looked threatening.

Benjamin Mendy was missing altogether, and though the all the talk has been about the new attacking dimension he provides, it was a defensive error by his deputy, Fabian Delph, that did most to highlight the Frenchman's absence.

Fekir, who at one point this summer was sure he'd be plying his trade a few miles up the M62, raced down the left and whipped a testing ball across the six-yard box.

City had Aymeric Laporte and Delph well positioned, only for the England international to engineer a complete miskick, granting Cornet the chance to lash home a superb finish.

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The goal briefly woke the home side from their slumber, but just before the interval, Fekir, causing havoc in a free role behind Memphis Depay, picked up the ball 25 yards from goal and drilled a cracking low strike into the bottom corner to double the away side’s lead.

City's first half showing was reminiscent of their start in last season's League Cup final against Arsenal, with 'complacency' the buzz word on commentary.

Ironically, during the interval, BT Sport ran an advert for Amazon's All or Nothing documentary, showing the rollicking Guardiola had delivered to rally his troops on that occasion.

Here he was helpless, sat in the stands as punishment for his sending off in the aforementioned defeat to Liverpool.

City were out early for the second half, but looked just as tardy, with Depay almost sealing the deal, only for Ederson to tip his shot onto the post.

Finally, stand-in gaffer Mikel Arteta sent for the cavalry. Sane and Aguero came on for Gundogan and the isolated Gabriel Jesus, and it was the German's incisive run which teed up Bernado Silva to halve the deficit.

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Mahrez joined the fray, and whipped a terrific ball into the unmarked Sane, but where a centre forward might have bulleted a header home, the ball merely grazed the winger’s afro and faded well wide.

Lyon boss Bruno Génésio sensibly hooked the hapless Rafael, and though Aguero almost found the net with a carbon copy of his famous 2012 title winning goal, the visitors held on relatively comfortably.

City’s status as champions and subsequent pot one seeding, means they do not face the kind of perilous group of death that Spurs or Liverpool have to negotiate.

Tonight’s result might not affect their eventual qualification – and it showed – but this was not a performance fitting of a side who are favourites to add a final European jewel to their crown.

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