A dramatic night of Champions League action on Tuesday saw almost everything—spectacular goals, a flurry of red cards and even an abandonmen...
A dramatic night of Champions League action on Tuesday saw almost everything—spectacular goals, a flurry of red cards and even an abandonment due to adverse weather.
With three places in the last 16 of the competition still up for grabs, plenty of teams had every incentive to come away with a win, while Manchester United and Bayern Munich still had to officially secure top spots in their respective groups.
Here are 4 lessons we gathered from the matches. (Pay attention to David Moyes’ comment. Hehehehe)
There Exists the Possibility That Pellegrini Did Not Truly Know the Score
Football is a funny old game, but this detail is strange even for a club with a history as checkered as Manchester City's.
As reported by talkSPORT, "Manchester City overcame a two-goal deficit to beat Bayern Munich 3-2 in their final game of the Champions League group stage, but manager Manuel Pellegrini did not appear to realize they needed just one more goal to qualify as group winners."
Wait, what?
Difficult as it is to believe, the evidence is pretty compelling that Pellegrini did not know he was one goal short of winning Group D. Or, just as likely, that he did not really care.
James Milner's strike in the 63rd minute put City up 3-2. A 4-2 win would have won City the group.
Here were Pellegrini's substitutions after City pulled ahead: Alvaro Negredo for David Silva (75th minute) and Jack Rodwell for Edin Dzeko (88th minute).
Negredo for Silva can be argued as an aggressive play, putting another striker on in place of a midfielder. But if you are desperate for a goal, the midfielder you take off there is Javi Garcia or Jesus Navas, not Silva (who scored City's first goal).
The 88th minute substitution of Dzeko for Rodwell is a double blunder. Not only did Pellegrini leave Sergio Aguero seated, he wasted more precious time at the end of the match. If Aguero was not going to come on, Dzeko should have remained.
Asked why Aguero did not play, Pellegrini reportedly answered "I was tempted if we scored the fourth goal."
Like seriously?? What was he thinking?
The Chilean picked an inopportune time for a senior moment.
Milner Made the Best Case of City's Featured Reserves for a Bigger Role
Manchester City's XI against Bayern Munich contained numerous players who want more playing time.
Joleon Lescott and Micah Richards have repeatedly complained about lack of opportunity at City. That former City boss Roberto Mancini and current City gaffer Manuel Pellegrini successively buried them on the bench seems to be lost on them both.
Richards did not exactly seize his chance against Bayern. Pellegrini could not have been pleased with needing to replace an injured Richards with Pablo Zabaleta in the 16th minute when City were already down 2-0. For that matter, Lescott had not exactly covered himself in glory to that point, either.
Ultimately, it was another forgotten man who yanked City's fat out of the conflagration.
James Milner has seen City spend absurd sums on Javi Garcia, Samir Nasri, Fernandinho and Jesus Navas in the past few years. Yaya Toure received a huge contract extension in that same time. Milner has suffered for City's profligate midfield spending by spending a lot of time on the bench.
Against Bayern, though, Milner drew the penalty from Dante that created Aleksandar Kolarov's equalizer from the penalty spot. Then Milner scored the match winner in the 63rd minute.
Lescott, Richards and other deposed starters like Joe Hart and Edin Dzeko could learn a lot from Milner's example.
You want to start? You want to play more? Excel when your name is called.
Cristiano Ronaldo Is the Best Finisher of the Group Stage
Cristiano Ronaldo set yet another record this evening, as he put away his ninth goal of the tournament, becoming the first player to score that number of times in the group stage in a single edition.
It is true that he missed a penalty kick—his first one in the UEFA Champions League since 2008, when he played with Manchester United—but he still managed to become the top scorer of the competition.
He also bagged his 68th goal of the year in 58 appearances.
David Moyes And His Funny Comment After United's Victory
David Moyes And His Funny Comment After United's Victory
United's 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at Old Trafford ensured they sealed top spot in Group A and will avoid most of their fellow heavyweights in Monday's last-16 draw.
The Red Devils remain unbeaten, have won all their home matches and conceded just three goals, the lowest of any team in the four completed groups.
Their form is in stark contrast to the awful results in the Premier League, where United have slithered to ninth and look incapable of mounting a significant defence of their championship.
And Moyes cannot adequately explain why.
"If I had the answer I would have solved it by now and it would all be okay," he said.
"I do believe there is a different style and you can tell the players here are used to it.
"They are well experienced in European football so I think they are more than capable of playing at this level. They are comfortable with it.
"They are also very comfortable in the Premier League but at the moment they are not showing it."
Leverkusen Deserve Second Spot
With Shakhtar Donetsk losing to Manchester United in Group A's other match, Bayer Leverkusen stole second in the group, thanks to a narrow 1-0 win in Spain.
Needing to beat Shakhtar's result in order to leapfrog them, Omer Toprak grabbed the game's only goal shortly after halftime to send Sami Hyypia's side into the next phase.
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Afterward, Hyypia said, "Once again, the team showed real character today. I had the feeling that my team was slightly tired in the opening period of the game, but we eventually managed to find our rhythm."
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