Full-time: City 1-0 Steaua (agg: 6-0)
An exercise in fixture fulfilment brought little by way of entertainment or education. Delph scored a nice goal, Hart was lovingly acclaimed by the home fans, Kolarov performed with distinction alongside Stones and, on the down side, Iheanacho suffered an injury that could keep him out of action for a while.
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90+2 min: “There’s only one Joe Hart” gets another airing from a smattering of home fans.
90+1 min: Touré wins back possession in midfield after charging back and making an authoritative sliding tackle. Pep will be pleased.
88 min: Prolonged press from City. Lots of nifty passing around the box. Eventually Touré scoops a useful cross towards Fernandinho, who had surged from deep in a bid to meet it. But it’s well defended.
86 min: The camera pans to the fancy seats, where Vincent Kompany is having the craic with some chums, including Joleon Lescott and Micah Richards. For more of this sort of thing, see Hello! magazine.
83 min: Delph charges into the box, hoping to receive a good pass as City launch a swift counter-attack. But the ball’s with Navas, who’s already hit his good-pass quotient for the night and isn’t about to go beyond it. Intercepted.
80 min: Hamroun latches on to a headed clearance and tries to volley it back into the net from 25 yards. It wafts miles wide. It would have been one of the all-time great consolation goals. But still not a patch on this one.
City sub: Iheanacho off, Fernandinho on.
74 min: A big negative for City: Iheanacho pulls up lame as he chased a ball in the Steaua box. For a moment Mitrea seemed to think the player was in very serious trouble and he dashed over as if about to administer first aid. But then, seemingly having been reassured, he left the scene and City’s physios arrived to treat what appears to be a leg muscle injury. Iheanacho is eventually carried off on a stretcher, looking annoyed but not in agony.
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71 min: Dangerous freekick for Steaua, near the left-hand corner of the City box. Stanciu goes for goal. He hits it well but it would have taken a terrible blunder by Hart for it to find the net. And Hart’s not about to make one of those, not tonight at least. He proves the point by following up that save with a better one at the back post from Tudorie after the corner was headed on to the striker.
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68 min: Hart elicits yet more declarations of love by hurtling out of his box to whack the ball clear after a dangerous through-ball towards Popa.
65 min: Another moment for the sentimentalists among you: City fans demand a round of applause for Hart and the response is loud and heart-felt. “There’s only one Joe Hart,” they croon.
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62 min: Touré, in case you’re interested, has been a tad disappointing so far. He hasn’t made any mistakes but nor has he done anything to demand inclusion in a high-stakes matches. Perhaps he sees this solely as a useful workout on the road back to full fitness but it would have been heartening to see him put on a demonstration of his awesome creative ability. Still time, of course.
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Steaua sub: Sulley off, Achim on.
City subs: Stones and Nolito off, Adarabioyo (age 18) and Tasende (age 19) on.
GOAL! City 1-0 Steaua (Delph 56) (agg: 6-0)
That’s the way to do it! Zippy play at last from City, culminating with Iheanachu knocking the ball out to Navas, who flights a nice cross back into the danger zone. Delphs leaps to meet it with a strong downward header from about eight yards and it flies past the keepers into the far corner.
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55 min: City’s best chance of the night! Delph created it with a clever run behind the defence and he was rewarded with a perfectly timed pass from Iheanacho. Delph shot first time from 15 yards but Cojocaru closed down the angle quickly and made a good save at the expense of a corner.
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Steaua subs: Looks like they’re going for victory, after all. They’re sending on their best attackers, Popa and Stanciu, in place of Popescu and Aganovic.
52 min: Stones exchanges languid passed with Touré and the ventures into midfield do see what sort of mischief he can make. But no sooner does he cross the halfway line than he runs into trouble and burps up possession. But Steaua’s counter-attack is snuffed out with equal speed. Bogged down, is the term we’re looking for here.
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49 min: Kolarov picks out NAvas with a fine long diagonal pass. A chance, then, for the Spaniard to cross from the right. But instead he works it backwards and City wind up knocking it about in their own half. Eventually they feed Kolarov, who, for one, is trying to liven up proceedings. He darts forward and lets fly from 30 yards. It’s deflected out for a corner. Stones meets the delivery with a decent header but it’s straight at the keeper, who saves easily.
47 min: Thanks to Lucian Stanescu for tipping me off to another classic Romanian goal. Enjoy this work of art:
46 min: The teams are back. No changes to personnel have been made during the break, but let’s hope we see signs of a change in attitude from City, who’ve been far too dull to infiltrate their ultra-defensive opponents.
“No stiff drinks are allowed at the CL” sighs Jiri Krb. “Unless you’re in the corporate areas.” Leaving the ground to go get some might not be a bad idea, even if you’re not allowed back in. Bring your phone and I’ll keep you abreast of any significant action. Or don’t bring your phone and you’ll get the same number of reports of significant action, quite possibly.
If a goal is going to be scored in this game, chances are it will be similar to this one by the former Steaua great Marius Lacatus. Ingenious improvisation or pure jamminess?
45 min: Getting into the spirit of the occasion, the fourth official indicates that there will be no time added at the end of this half. And on that note, the ref blows his whistle, the signal for the teams to troop into their dressing rooms and spectators to seek a stiff drink.
42 min: Steaua are starting to bother City at the back. Hamroun flies down the left and sends Maffeo reeling backwards with a firm shoulder. A handy lesson for the youngster. Stones then demonstrates the way to deal with such matters by haring over and dispossessing Hamroun with a fine tackle.
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40 min: Sulley brings cheers from the Romanians in the ground with two beautiful rolls past Delph and and Maffeo in midfield. But then he loses the ball.
37 min: Someone somewhere is having to compile a Five Things We Learned report about this match, and right now they’re only got one point: that the people who didn’t bother turning up made the right choice.
34 min: Enache skedaddles down the right and wins a corner as Clichy deflects his cross behind. The corner is delivered towards Tudorie, who gets up well near the penalty spot. But so does Stones and he deflects the ball out for another corner. Touré heads this one away.
30 min: Touré shrugs off one challenge and strides forward with ominous intent. Then he threads a pass through to Navas - which is ominous in a different way. Surprise, surprise, the moves breaks down. Navas had strayed offside.
26 min: Steaua still keeping City at bay well. “I know the game and the MBM requires massive attention but I’d love to know the reason for City fans booing the CL anthem,” tweets Marc. It’s an expression of disdain for perceived warped priorities at Uefa, who a few years ago imposed a fine on City for being one minute late to appear for the second half of a match - a bigger fine than the one imposed on Porto fans for racially abusing Yaya Touré and Mario Balotelli. Uefa have also previously fined the club for the booing of the CL anthem, which, of course, merely incited more boos.
25 min: Navas provides a rare accurate cross from the right, a dainty clip towards Nolito, who meets it with a sideways scissors kick about 12 yards out. Straight at the keeper, unfortunately.
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22 min: Iheanacho traps the ball neatly on the edge of the area and then tries to send a curler past two defenders and into the top corner. But the 19-year-old Nigerian is no Ronnie Whelan.
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20 min: Hart’s every touch is being clapped by the City faithful, who remember his mistakes but also his prominent role in some of the best days of their supporting lives. If it all brings tears to your eyes, don’t worry, you’ll not miss much by way of action in this match. It’s so low key it’s almost subterranean.
17 min: Nolito sets Delph free down the left. Delph tries to trick his way past Aganovic but the defender keeps his eye on the ball and then chooses the right time to intervene and take it.
15 min: Within the confines of their limited ambition Steaua have made a sound beginning, defending with tenacity and discipline. City have not been able to prise them open yet.
13 min: Steaua are outclassed on the pitch but that is not deterring their fans from making merry. What sounds like hundreds of them are belting out proud chants. They’re feeling all Walt Whitman, see. It’s all about winning, it’s about celebrating that they are here, that life exists and they can contribute a verse. Hurrah!
11 min: Freekick to City near the left-hand corner of the Steaua box. Touré tries to curl it in at the near post but is a couple of yards off target.
9 min: Fernando rasps a decent low effort towards goal from 25 yards. Cojocaru gets down smartly to save.
8 min: There are legions of boffins making official counts at this very minute, but I’m just going to go with a gut impression and say City have had 97.5% possession so far. Steaua’s ambition appears to be confined to avoiding a massacre.
6 min: Kolarov unleashes the game’s first shot. At least I think it was a shot. From 25 yards it was way off target, unless he was actually aiming for an empty seat in Row X.
5 min: Maffeo is not shy about coming forward. He’s continually running down the wing to offer an outlet for team-mates, but so far no one has released him.
4 min: For those of you who like to form mental images, City are dressed in sky blue with a modish dark blue bridge across the shoulders, and Steaua in white jerseys and shorts with provocative United-red stockings.
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2 min: Hart’s first touch - to control a gentle backpass - is greeted with warm applause by the home fans. Cheeky blighters, he was never going to let that one in.
1 min: City kick off ... and give the ball away with an aimless hoof within three seconds. They’re testing Pep’s patience already!
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Here come the teams, into an arena that is about 80% full. But there’s still plenty enough people to drown out the Champions League jingle with righteous boos. Hurrah!
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For Eric Binder and anyone else who may have been wondering but, unlike Eric, did not get in touch to ask: neither Hart nor any other player will be cup-tied for the Champions League group stages as a result of playing tonight, so this appearance will not lessen his transfer value.
If Pep Guardiola played the pan pipes he’d be Gheorge Zamfir. But he doesn’t play the pan pipes so tonight he’s just communicating with BT via the medium of words. Here are the highlighted of his pre-match interview:
On Touré: “Yaya is a guy who likes to play football. Of course he has his own qualities, sometimes Im looking for that and sometimes I’m looking for other things. But he’s a good professional who trains well and I’m happy to give him an opportunity today.”
On Hart: “I know his quality so it doesn’t matter what happens today. I hope he makes a good performance.”
Right, whoever the Romanian equivalent of Don Quixote is, it’s not Laurentjiu Reghecampf. Because the Steaua manager has decided to field a weakened team, leaving their two best players (Nita and Stanciu) on the bench. No tilting at impossible dream for him, it seems. Under these circumstances, anything less than a double-digit aggregate victory for City will be a disgrace. Pep demands to be judged by the highest standards, after all.
Preamble:
Hello and welcome to coverage of the most sensational comeback in the history of European football. Or not. Steaua Bucharest are hoping to pull off something unprecedented, as no team has ever won a tie after losing the first leg 5-0 (or even 4-0), so the Romanian champions are out to defy the course of history as well as of financial tyranny. It can’t be ruled out completely because City, despite Chelsea’s attempt last season, remain the only English champions to be relegated the year after winning the title (in 1938, when they managed to go down despite being top scorers in the league). Cititis is a very real ailment and still lurks somewhere in the club’s DNA. Still and all, tonight’s underdogs look exceptionally scrawny in comparison to a City side that Pep Guardiola is striving to transform into a properly mean beast. They have already hinted at newfound ruthlessness under the Catalan even if they let Steaua off somewhat in the first leg, missing two penalties and a bevy of other chances en route to their 5-0 victory. Back in 1980 Ajax lost 4-0 to Omonia Nicosia after winning the first leg 10-0 (gifting commentators a long-awaited opportunity to declare “that’s a big 10-4 good buddy”) but Guardiola is unlikely to stand for any such carelessness tonight. He’ll be demanding blood from what should be a dead rubber.
Another sign of Guardiola’s ruthlessness – or of his coherent planning if you want to be less dramatic about it – is his apparent willingness to discard Joe Hart. But the manager is not totally devoid of sentiment and has given the keeper a start and even the captains armband tonight. It’s a chance, perhaps, to make a farewell appearance. At this point only the callous of heart would crack a joke about waving haplessly at crosses. Wonder if Yaya Touré has been included tonight for similar reasons? And who knows what Pablo Maffeo’s role in Guardiola’s plans is: the 19-year-old right-back makes his senior debut tonight for the club he’s been at for a several years. He was on loan in his native Spain last season and it’ll be interesting to see how he takes to Guardiola’s ambitious fullback-cum-playmaker wheeze. Better than Bacary Sagna, quite possibly.
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TEAMS:
City: Hart; Maffeo, Stones, Kolarov, Clichy; Fernando, Touré, Delph; Nolito, Navas; Iheanacho
Subs: Gunn, Adarabioyo, Angelino, Fernandinho, Silva, Sterling, Aguero
Steaua: Cojocaru; Aganovic, Tamas, Mitrea, Momolovic; Bourceanu; Enache, Sulley, Popescu, Hamroun; Tudorie
Subs: Nita, Simion, Stanciu, Calceanu, Achim, Popescu, Popa
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