Victory keeps City's hopes alive in Champions League

A manager defined by finishing first may never be so relieved to come 22nd. Pep Guardiola was 45 minutes from abject humiliation.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Twenty months after winning the Champions League, Manchester City were on course to be cast out of it. Embarrassment was on the agenda.

It was averted. By character, by the resolve of a veteran and the skill of a rookie. As Guardiola looked back on a night that laid bare some of City’s flaws, he sounded poetic. “When you are lost, you have to lift your soul and bones and heart and put the ball in the box and I think we did it,” he said. Unconvincingly, City nonetheless clawed their way above the dotted line, into the play-off places.

A comeback forged by Croatians, requiring an own goal but sealed by Savinho, means they will now face one of the monarchical powers of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. “One is the king of the competition, the other is the second or third king,” reflected Guardiola. “In two weeks, we will be better. Players will come back, we have new signings.” But the danger is that their group-stage struggles could soon cost them their place in the competition. Their journey to the exit may merely be postponed. Their prospective opponents, Guardiola said, “are better than us right now”.

Many teams are. Right now, Guardiola admitted, he could not imagine City winning the Champions League. They have at least won 3-1 twice at home in five days, each after going behind. This was fraught, flawed, but yet ended with Guardiola arguing his players have “something special”.