Monaco 3 Manchester City 1 (agg 6-6): Pep Guardiola OUT at the last-16 stage for the first time in his career after another defensive collapse sees Tiemoue Bakoyoko head in winner
Leroy Sane's strike not enough as goals from Kylian Mbappe, Fabinho and Tiemoue Bakayoko dump City out of Europe
MANCHESTER CITY crashed out of the Champions League on away goals after suffering a 3-1 defeat in Monaco on Wednesday.
Despite Leroy Sane's late strike, the French side sealed victory thanks to Tiemoue Bakayoko's header as earlier goals from Kylian Mbappe and Fabinho ensured the tie ended 6-6 on aggregate.
It did not take long for the Ligue 1 leaders to burst into life and put Pep Guardiola’s men on the ropes.
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Just seconds after being denied when clean through by Willy Caballero, Mbappe made the breakthrough on eight minutes.
Benjamin Mendy, who was a thorn in the visitors right hand side all night, broke into the area and picked out the teenager at the second attempt for the hotshot to stab home.
He soon had the ball in the net again, before it was ruled out for offside, as the City defence struggled to cope with the pace of the home attack.
There was no flag to save the Premier League outfit on 28 minutes as they found themselves two-down and behind in the tie on away goals.
It was the livewire Mendy again who provided the cross from the left to enable Fabinho to slam home first-time.
Guardiola must have been looking on in envy at the quickness and sharpness of the Monaco attack as they continued to tear his bewildered side to shreds, but he will have been relieved to hear the half time whistle with the score only two.
And whatever the Spaniard said to his side seemed to have an impact as they began the second period in much better fashion.
They could even have got themselves an early goal - but Raheem Sterling's delay in pulling the ball back for Sergio Aguero proved costly as the defence cleared.
The Argentine striker had no excuse just after the hour mark when he blazed over from six yards after Sane had burst past the full-back to cut the ball back - and Danijel Subasic denied him moments later with a fine save.
After their tremendous burst in the opening half, Monaco were suddenly beginning to look tired as City took control of the play.
And finally the pressure told and it was Sane who got the goal - but heartbreak was in store.
Bakayoko rose to meet an Thomas Lemar free-kick and he made no mistake as he fired Monaco into the last eight of the Champions League - eliminating Guardiola at this stage for the first time in his career.
FACTS, STATS, GOALS AND LOLS
- Regular fans that go to watch Monaco at home are certainly spoilt when it comes to goals. Prior to this clash, they had seen their side smash 57 goals in their last 16 outings on their own turf – an average of 3.5 per game.
- Who says that half and half scarves are a bad thing. Try telling that to Prince Albert II of Monaco. The Royal proudly sported his as he waved to the crowd prior to kick off alongside Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
- Kylian Mbappe is literally adding millions to his price tag with every single game. The 18-year-old striker’s opener was his 11th goal in his last 11 matches. There is going to be plenty of interest from Europe’s big guns this summer.
- That goal ended an impressive run for Guardiola’s men on the road. Since the 4-0 thumping at Everton in January, they had gone 548 minutes without conceding away from home.
- This defeat was the first time that Manchester City have ever lost to French opposition. Meanwhile, Monaco quite fancy their chances whenever they face an English side at home. They have only lost twice in nine games.
- Fabinho appears to enjoy playing against Manchester City. He had a hand in three goals of the two-legged tie against the Citizens. His strike added to his two assists from the first leg.
- 4-4-2 seems to be a dying formation these days. The 3-5-2 craze has swept into the Premier League this season thanks to Antonio Conte, but Monaco provided perfect demonstration of how the system can still be used successfully to press a side – especially in the first half as they tore City to shreds.
- As a testimony to how dominant they were in the opening period, the visitors failed to attempt a single shot on target in the first 45 minutes. That is the first time their history that has happened.
- Leroy Sane is really coming into his own now and must be one of the first names on Guardiola’s team-sheet. He has now scored or assisted nine goals in his last 13 games after only having a hand in two during his first 12 matches for the club.
- Monaco had only ever won a Champions League tie when they have been two goals down from the first leg once before – and that was against the mighty Real Madrid in 2004.
BIG PICTURE
NEXT FIVE FIXTURES
Sun Mar 19 - Liverpool (H) - PL
Sun Apr 2 - Arsenal (A) - PL
Wed Apr 5 - Chelsea (A) - PL
Sat Apr 8 - Hull (H) - PL
Sat Apr 15 - Southampton (A) - PL
SOCIAL SAYS
DREAM TEAM RATINGS
Monaco: Subasic 6, Sidibe 6, Raggi 7 (Toure 70), de Jesus Nascimento 6, Mendy 8, Bernardo Silva 7, Fabinho 7, Bakayoko 7, Lemar 7, Germain 6 (Dirar 90+1, 5), Mbappe 7 (Joao Moutinho 81, 6)
Goals: Mbappe (8), Fabinho (29), Bakayoko (77)
Subs not used: de Oliveira Moraes, De Sanctis, Cardona, Diallo
Manchester City: Caballero 5, Sagna 6, Stones 6, Kolarov 6, Clichy 6 (Iheanacho 84), Fernandinho 6, Sterling 5, De Bruyne 6, Silva 5, Sane 6, Aguero 7
Subs not used: Bravo, Zabaleta, Jesus Navas, Delph, Otamendi, Toure
Goal: Sane (71)
WHAT THEY SAID
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, talking to BT Sport: "We played exceptional second half but we forgot to do that in the first. We wanted to defend aggressively. We were better in the second but it wasn't enough.
"Normally we play to a good level but here we didn't. We will learn. The team does not have a lot of experience."
Manchester City defender John Stones: "Very sloppy. Not up to our standard in the first half. We wanted to correct that but we weren't clinical enough in both boxes. We didn't score enough and weren't defensively solid enough.
"The second half didn't reflect the whole scoreline. We were the City people know from this season. We should have scored more. It is a difficult one for us to take. We should have done better and deserve to be in the next round.
"The gaffer was saying before that the more and more he plays the Champions League it is about the set-pieces. Real Madrid scored from two last week and went through. We weren't solid enough."