Manchester City News 24/7Writer: Johnny Baguette 
Date:Thursday March 15 2012
Time: 10:14PM
UK time is: 05:46:18
Vital Login
Social Login
Choose your club
Other Sites
Network Navigation
Vital Partners
'If It's Football, It's Vital'
Manchester CITY 3 - Sporting Lisbon 2
Europa League 4th Round - Agg 3-3
The Etihad Stadium
15/3/12
Attendance: 38, 201
Referee: Tom Harald Hagen, Norway
Manchester CITY |
3 - 2 |
Sporting Lisbon |
Aguero 60′ 82', Balotelli (pen) 75′ |
Fernandez 33′, van Wolfswinkel 40′ |
|
Venue: The Etihad Stadium |
Attendance: 38, 201 |
The Teams | ||||||||
25 Hart |
01 Patricio |
|||||||
02 Richards |
03 Carrico |
|||||||
13 Kolarov |
04 Anderson |
|||||||
15 Savic |
48 Insua |
|||||||
28 K Toure |
93 Xandao |
|||||||
08 Pizarro |
55' |
08 Schaars |
||||||
11 Johnson |
46' |
10 Izmailov |
||||||
21 Silva |
66' |
11 Diego |
63' |
|||||
42 Y Toure |
14 Fernandez |
63' |
||||||
16 Aguero |
25 Pereirinha |
|||||||
45 Balotelli |
09 van Wolfswinkel |
68' |
||||||
Substitutes | ||||||||
30 Pantilimon |
12 Marcelo |
|||||||
22 Clichy |
06 Evaldo |
|||||||
07 Milner |
26 Andre Santos |
|||||||
19 Nasri |
66' |
31 Neto |
63' |
|||||
34 De Jong |
46' |
17 Jeffren |
63' |
|||||
10 Dzeko |
55' |
18 Carrillo |
68' |
|||||
64 Roman |
33 Rubio |
|||||||
Game Statistics | ||||||||
12 |
Goal Attempts |
9 |
||||||
6 |
On Target |
5 |
||||||
10 |
Corners |
6 |
||||||
4 |
Offside |
1 |
||||||
14 |
Fouls |
11 |
||||||
4 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
||||||
69 |
% |
31 |
||||||
Comments... | ||||||||
| Johnny On The Spot: Many a hack's script will have been hastily re-written tonight. Three defeats in a row, crashing out of Europe and lost the dressing room, etc etc...Small wonder though that numerous laptops would have been typing in that direction. City's spineless first half performance was as insipid and turgid as they come. Bereft of ideas, The Blues threatened to cave in completely despite a bright start. There were some shocking performances. Pizarro was brutal, Savic all at sea, Kolarov hopeless. The central midfield all but gave up and Balotelli persisted in playing into defenders hands with his by now trademark shoves and ankle taps that always result in a free kick and a writhing, often screeching victim. He's shipped a raft of bookings this way. Sure, that led to the opening Sporting goal but the all round no show of the team meant the game was already heading for all but lost...City were staring down the barrel of mission impossible...Enter De Jong who immediately shored up the midfield and knocked the energetic Sporting right out of their stride. His hustle, bustle and cute touches lifted the side and Mancio too sensed this wasn't over by going 433 throwing Nasri and Dzeko on to really mix it up. And so they did. Aguero suddenly found his extra gears and Mario struck the coolest penalty. A roaring Etihad shuddered through a clearly rattled young Sporting side who sadly resorted to grass hugging injury feigning...An unbelievable ending was ultimately denied in the final seconds as a rampaging Hart's header was narrowly tipped wide and The Citizens business in Europe was done for a few months. Many lessons have been learned there this season...And so it came to pass. The rags have been battered out of Europe themselves and the fight for the title will reignite with new impetus over the coming 6 days. If City can generate the same Pride in Battle they showed tonight, they will push Stretford all the way, despite that tough run in. | ||||||||
Use your social login to comment on front page articles. Login using you Facebook, Twitter, Google or LinkedIn accounts and have your say!
Your Comments
Disappointing to go out but at least we went down fighting after a disastrous first half. So unlucky Joe.
Bluedub
Absolute crap tonight.
SkyBlueSuedeShoes
Disappointing to concede two goals in that fashion, but when they finally sorted themselves out, we looked the side of last year.
Buzz Lightyear
Last 30 minutes was some of the best football we've played since October, can it drive us on or will we continue to show a lack of swagger and bow out of the title race meekly?
StuMCFC
Oh well, on the bright side, at least we didn't lose home and away in this tie, unlike certain other teams I could mention. Just wish the team could play at the second half tempo for the entire 90 minutes - then there would be no "squeaky bum time" in the title race, as we'd be out of sight by now. Well done City for such a great comeback, now bring home the title.
fifthcolumnblue
Second time in 3 weeks that Mancini has said he underestimated opposition. There's protecting your players and there's making yourself look a *****. He's treading a fine line with that particular tactic.
RobsonGreensleeves
Difference being this time it was his fault imo. Set us up all wrong to begin with, to his credit he put it right at ht though.
Bluedub
after our damp squib against Bilbao i thought City were nailed on to win it.Weird season .
nickster
Have Your Say
Log in...
with your social network OR with your Vital account
Recent Articles
VMC's Man of the Season (Thursday June 20 2013)
Back To The Battle Again - Joe Kinnear First Up! (Wednesday June 19 2013)
Isco Torn Between Man City & Real Madrid (Tuesday June 18 2013)
Yankees' Lawyer on Man City MLS Partnership (Tuesday June 18 2013)
Welcome To Manchester Pelle! (Friday June 14 2013)
VIDEO: Man City World's Highest-Paying Sports Team (Thursday June 13 2013)
Pellegrini - Through Real Madrid Eyes (Wednesday June 12 2013)
Focus On...Matija Nastasić (Wednesday June 12 2013)
Jesus Of The North West Looks To The Wings (Wednesday June 12 2013)
Video: Jesus Navas Announcement Due Any Day (Sunday June 9 2013)
Archived Articles
Vital Members League (view all)
| 1. | Buzz Lightyear | 115 |
| 2. | fifthcolumnblue | 110 |
| 3. | Bluedub | 110 |
| 4. | Spooks | 92 |
| 5. | CITYBOY1000 | 70 |
| 6. | citizhun | 69 |
| 7. | Skoorb | 69 |
| 8. | Johnny Baguette | 69 |
| 9. | OziMan | 49 |
| 10. | kennyclementstache | 43 |
League Results (view all)
| Latest Results |
League Table (view table)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 7. Fulham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8. Hull City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9. Liverpool | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10. Man City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11. Man Utd | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12. Newcastle | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 13. Norwich | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Breaking League News
| VMC's Man of the Season
» Man City : 20/06/2013 00:58:00
|
| Saints Season 2012/2013 Review - Right Back
» Southampton : 19/06/2013 22:15:00
|
| 2013/14 Fixtures: Sunderland Welcome Fulham
» Sunderland : 19/06/2013 21:40:00
|
| Britton: All Players Hope Laudrup Stays
» Swansea : 19/06/2013 21:04:00
|
| Hull City to start 2013/14 season at Chelsea
» Hull City : 19/06/2013 20:45:00
|
| Pardew - 'I Am Staying!'
» Newcastle : 19/06/2013 19:09:00
|
| If You Pray Hard Enough………..
» Chelsea : 19/06/2013 17:45:00
|
Current Site Poll (view all polls)
|
|
4 © - All content copyright Vital Network Ltd, not to be reproduced without explicit permission Copyright Issues
Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.