Manchester City Battle to Draw Against Lyon

Manchester City seem to have an uncanny knack of facing the unexpected form team every year in the Champions League, and this season has been no exception.

There are always games where the opposition raises their performance levels against better teams. We used to do that against teams but these days we find ourselves in the position where we are the team everyone want to beat.

Facing the form team away from home can be difficult enough, but without players of the quality of Kevin  De Bruyne and Bernardo just makes that task more difficult.

I often think teams with pace who run against us and press like Liverpool are our kryptonite and tonight proved that again. We got to watch a City team without the ball tonight and that was a strange experience for us all.

More from Game Review

• Manchester City keep unbeaten streak alive with 1-1 draw vs Brighton
• Manchester City march towards the title with 3-0 win over West Ham
• Manchester City “tear cockneys apart again” in masterclass 4-1 Premier League win
• Manchester City produce a professional performance to reach the FA Cup Final
• Manchester City vs. Bayern Munich: the Etihad brought all the Champions League drama

Lyon are good, fast and pacey. They have quality on the ball and several players we may well buy. But what City showed tonight was heart. We knuckled down and battled. Sometimes champions have to just carve out results.

Lyon’s goals came from the press, from the turnover. Both from Maxwell Cornet a player who literally only plays against us. They were both great goals and City can have no complaints about being beaten by the chances that were taken. Both times though City responded.

More remarkably both times were from set pieces. First from Aymeric Laporte a towering header from a Mahrez corner, after a deft flick by David Silva. And then a great header by Sergio Aguero.

Make no mistake this difficult game, where City earnt their passage and likely top spot in the group, may well be more pleasing to Pep Guardiola than any of our recent games. Here we saw a team fighting together to achieve a result. That alone will be concerning to the chasing pack in the Premier League.