MONACO 3, MANCHESTER CITY 1 (6-6 on aggregate, Monaco progress on away goals)
- Kylian Mbappe and Henrique Fabinho put Monaco back into the lead on aggregate after just 29 minutes.
- Leroy Sane cuts the deficit with 19 minutes to go, putting City in the lead.
- Timoue Bakayoko header restores the Monaco lead 13 minutes from time and City can’t respond.
Defence has proved to be City’s achilles heel this season and it proved to be the end of City’s run in the Champions League as they slipped out on way goals to Monaco after a 6-6 aggregate scoreline across the two legs of this last 16 tie.
City also became the first team in Champions League history to be eliminated in a knockout tie after scoring five goals in the first leg.
They had come to France defending a 5-3 lead from the first leg but it took Monaco all of 29 minutes to wipe out the deficit and put themselves in the driver’s seat of this see-saw Champions League tie.
City manager Pep Guardiola cut a disappointed figure as he accepted the blame for City’s failure to progress despite holding a 2 goal advantage from the first leg.
He had already declared his intention to go for attack prior to the game but City paid the price for a timid first half in France and a failure to record a shot on goal for an hour of this contest.
He said: “It’s my fault, I tell my players what to do.
“A poor first-half left us too much to do – but we will learn from this night.
“We didn’t play the whole match as we did in the second half.” he explained, pointing out that City did improve as Monaco tired but it was too late and City’s recovery was derailed by their defensive frailty and lack of composure when the chances eventually came.
He promised to improve next season, though, saying: “I tried and will try again to win the Champions League with Manchester City.”
Guardiola opted to leave Yaya Toure on the bench, along with Pablo Zabaleta and Nicolas Otamendi as he opted to play Fernandinho in the deep lying pivot role with Bacary Sagna at right back and Aleksandar Kolarov partnering John Stones in central defence. Willy Caballero replaced Claudio Bravo in goal.
The plan was to attack Monaco aggressively and create early chances to put them out of the tie but the plan imploded in the face of a determined and energetic home side.
So good were Monaco and so abject were City that Pep Guardiola’s side failed to record even a shot on goal in the first half.
Wonderkid Kylian Mbappe got Monaco off to a flying start with a goal after just eight minutes after Benjamin Mendy found him following a corner routine.
Mbappe had the ball in the back of the net minutes later but it was offside.
Manchester City poor in both boxes as youthful Monaco pull off comeback
City had already been sloppy in giving the ball away with Fernandinho and Kevin De Bruyne particularly poor.
Pep’s men looked stunned during a first half in which they barely put ten passes together in the Monaco half and were pressed off the ball mercilessly by Monaco’s well motivated youths.
There had been plenty of warning but Mendy found Fabinho after 29 minutes and the youngster was given plenty of free space to go past Aleksandar Kolarov and score.
Warning bells had been rung with City’s right flank particularly exposed and it took an hour for the Blues to recover from the shock of the first half thrashing they took from Monaco.
City will look back at missed chances by Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane during the second period as Monaco’s level dropped with Sane sending a shot into the side netting when a cut back might have been better and Aguero denied by Danijel Subasic after rounding the last defender, blocked by Raggi, and shooting over the bar.
The home side suffered a double blow with the loss of defender Raggi to injury before Sane, City’s best player, finally scored after 71 minutes.
The German was quickest to react after Raheem Sterling’s shot was parried by Subasic and he forced the ball into the roof of the net to reduce the deficit and put City back in front in the tie.
It was a clinical finish – his seventh goal from just 11 shots on target this season and his fourth goal in his last six games.
But City couldn’t hold on and their defence let them down again as Timoue Bakayoko put a header past Caballero from Thomas Lemar’s free kick just six minutes later to restore Monaco’s tie-winning lead with Kolarov nowhere near the flight of the ball.
City tried to raise themselves for one final push but they couldn’t score what would have been the thirteenth goal of a remarkable tie.