Manuel Pellegrini and Joe Hart admitted Manchester City struggled with the freezing conditions in Moscow but refused to use them as an excuse for allowing a 2-0 half-time advantage to slip against CSKA as their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League were dealt another major blow.
Goals from Sergio Agüero and James Milner had given Pellegrini’s team a commanding lead. Yet the manager, who urged City to win their final three matches to try to ensure qualification for the knockout rounds, criticised how his side allowed concentration to waver.
First Seydou Doumbia scored for CSKA before Bebras Natcho’s late penalty ensured the English champions have only two points in Group E. “Of course I’m very disappointed not only because we were winning 2-0 at end of first half but also because we had at least three or four clear chances to score. But football lasts 95 minutes,” said Pellegrini. “I said before that we must win the last four games. Now we have three more games.”
On why the lead was allowed to slip, the manager added: “We didn’t play well in the second half, maybe there was an excess of trust or that it was so cold that it was very difficult for the players to continue to have motivation. It seemed so easy in the first half. We played very well in the first half but maybe it was too cold in the second half.”
Although City later tried to clarify that Pellegrini apparently meant his players had performed in a “tepid” manner rather than being affected by the freezing temperatures, Hart said: “It was really cold in the first half, when having the wind in your face made a big change, but the second half was fine. They are not excuses, it was the same for both teams – unfortunately we didn’t play well enough.”
While the penalty appeared questionable as Doumbia went down easily after Aleksandar Kolarov challenged him, Pellegrini said: “I don’t want to talk about that.”
Despite the Uefa ban on the CSKA stadium having spectators at the game due to racist incidents, among other things, in previous games, the Arena Khimki had up to 350 people present who, as they were draped in club colours and cheered the home team, appeared to be fans.
While Pellegrini did not wish to be drawn on the award of the penalty when asked if the presence of that vociferous contingent might have influenced the referee’s awarding of it, the City manager said: “Well, I agree but it’s not my duty to talk about things that don’t correspond with my duty. Uefa have their rule, they were aware the game was behind closed doors. I don’t know who allows or gives permission to give entrance to those people but it’s not my duty. I don’t want to talk about the referee because I don’t want to be punished again [following his two-game touchline ban last season].”
City have made an official complaint to Uefa regarding the presence of spectators at the match and an official from the European game’s governing body was also monitoring the contingent during the game.
This suggests Uefa may launch an inquiry into the episode. When the CSKA manager, Leonid Slutsky, was pressed if he thought Uefa may demand answers, he replied: “I don’t know. I am the coach.”
