Manchester City 1, Shakhtar Donetsk 1
Manchester City topped their Champions League group with a home draw against Shakhtar Donetsk after Ilkay Gundogan’s opener was cancelled out by Manor Solomon.
Embed from Getty ImagesAtalanta’s win over Dinamo Zagreb proved enough to make December’s game in Zagreb a dead rubber for City.
City came into the game without injured Sergio Aguero and with David Silva on the bench – a total of five changes from the 2-1 win against Chelsea at the weekend.
But they found Shakhtar tough to break down.
Shaktar’s tactics were simply to become hard to break down defensively while offering a counter attack option through speedsters like Tete or crossing options from Yevhen Konoplyanka.
City were fairly solid defensively, except for an early rush of blood by Ederson which saw the Brazilian come out of his area to try and control a ball forward but Tete had done all the hard work getting into position but squandered a chance to cross for a Junior Moraes tap-in in favour of a Hollywood shot that was blocked on the line by a sliding Fernandinho.
A rush of blood took the keeper out of his area but he missed a clearance kick.
Tete came in off the right flank but could not make City pay with Junior Moraes begging for the square ball.
City survive Ederson mistake against Tete
The mistake didn’t faze City’s popular goalkeeper and he was soon doing it again – more successfully – against the fast but inexperienced Tete.
Clear chances were few and far between for City who had to content with Shakhtar’s deep lying defence, close marking on Raheem Sterling, and counter attacking game.
But they finally broke the deadlock in the 56th minute when Gabriel Jesus drew defenders to him following a Kevin De Bruyne pass and then set up Ilkay Gundogan to score from 12 yards out.
But Shakhtar fought back and equalised in the 69th minute when Manor Solomon came off the bench and struck the equaliser from 10 yards out after a good team goal which ended when Tete found Dodo on the right wing – his cut back into the area was confidently finished off by the Israeli winger.
City immediately reacted, with De Bruyne replaced by David Silva who nearly scored a couple of minutes after coming on when Pyatov spilled his strike but Serhiy Kryvtsov was first to react and clear the spinning ball off the line.
Silva tested Pyatov again while Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling swapped flanks to try and force errors from Shakhtar.
Sterling twice went close, while Fernandinho got a booking after stopping an injury time surge by Tete which will see him suspended from City’s final group game in Zagreb.
PLAYER RATINGS – Manchester City 1, Shakhtar Donetsk 1
Ederson: 6. Rush of blood took the keeper out of his area but he missed a clearance kick against Tete but was confident enough to try that again later and more successfully.
Joao Cancelo: 6. Crossing poor on the night.
Nicolas Otamendi: 7. Physical contest with Junior Moraes. Header saved by Pyatov and not afraid of a pot shot against deep lying Shakhtar.
Fernandinho: 8. Another goal line block to prevent City blushes, hugely professional performance again in defence. Booking rules him out of last group game in Zagreb.
Angelino: 7. More of an attacking threat than a defensive one. Adventurous passing going forward. Succession of decent crosses throughout. One great cross almost converted by Nicolas Otamendi early. Missing when Dodo created Shakhtar’s equaliser.
Rodri: 6. Tested Andriy Pyatov going forward but not as good as Fernandinho creatively in midfield, slowed things down.
Ilkay Gundogan: 7. Very little space to pass into so he ran into some space and finished when Gabriel Jesus had caused mayhem and laid the ball off following a Kevin De Bruyne pass.
Kevin De Bruyne: 8. Early efforts but got no change out of the Shakhtar defence until he set up Ilkay Gundogan. Taken off even though Shakhtar had just levelled the game.
Bernardo Silva: 6. Good control of the ball but no openings.
Raheem Sterling: 6. Only flashes of brilliance against a side not afraid to defend and who had identified him specifically as a threat. Swapped flanks in the final quarter to cause even more threat.
Gabriel Jesus: 6. Worked hard but didn’t get into many shooting positions. Hardly any chances came his way but he did find some space to set up Ilkay Gundogan.
David Silva (on for Kevin De Bruyne, 70): 6. Went close a couple of times.
Phil Foden (on for Rodri, 76): Helped out defensively.
GOALS – Manchester City 1, Shakhtar Donetsk 1
Man City 1, Shakhtar Donetsk 0: 56. Ilkay Gundogan slots home from 12 yards after the ball is cut back in the area by Gabriel Jesus.
Man City 1, Shakhtar Donetsk: 69. Manor Solomon’s well struck finish from 10 yards after Dodo’s cut back from the right wing following a run and pass by Tete.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City 1, Shakhtar Donetsk 1
Man City: Ederson, Cancelo, Otamendi, Fernandinho (C), Angelino, Rodri (Foden 76), Gundogan, De Bruyne (David Silva 70), Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Jesus
Man City Subs not used: Carson, Walker, Stones, Mendy, Mahrez
Booking: Fernandinho 90+1 (foul on Tete)
Goal: Gundogan 56
Shakhtar Donetsk: Pyatov, Dodo, Kryvtsov, Matviyenko, Ismaily, Alan Patrick, Stepanenko (C), Tete, Kovalenko (Marcos Antonio 80), Konoplyanka (Solomon 65), Junior Moraes (Sikan 89)
Shakhtar Donetsk Subs not used: Shevchenko, Khocholava, Cipriano, Bolbat
Goal: Solomon 70
Referee: Slavko Vincic