Roberto Mancini declared Manchester City’s Champions League campaign over after seeing his side held 2-2 by Ajax on a contentious evening at the Etihad Stadium.
Tuesday’s result left the English champions five points below second-place Real Madrid in Group D, with only two points from four games, and although wins in their last two matches could take them through, Mancini feels it is too late.
“I don’t think we have a chance,” said the City coach, who went onto the pitch to confront referee Peter Rasmussen at the final whistle.
“Eight points if we win both games. If we do that and go through, we can win the Champions League! It would be our destiny, but I believe in my team always, even maybe sometimes when there are mistakes,” Mancini said.
City had two penalty appeals turned down, one for an early challenge on Yaya Toure and the other in injury time after Mario Balotelli appeared to be manhandled in the visitors’ box.
They were also controversially denied an 88th-minute equalizer when Aleksandar Kolarov was ruled to have strayed offside before crossing for Sergio Aguero to tap home.
Mancini confessed that he had not seen the incident involving Balotelli, but he admitted haranguing the match official about the decision not to let Aguero’s goal stand.
“I said it was a goal,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I didn’t see the last bit with Mario that was a penalty. The referee and his staff were really poor tonight.”
Mancini also dismissed reports he had threatened a television cameraman in the immediate aftermath of the match.
“The cameraman wanted to film me and follow me from the pitch,” the Italian said. “I said it’s finished. It’s not a film about me — it’s a game.”
Mancini’s opposite number, Frank de Boer, said he thought the officials had been correct to rule out Aguero’s goal.
“I thought immediately that Kolarov was offside,” he said. “I looked at the referee and the assistant referee, and they were very confident and had no doubts about it.”
“For the other one [Balotelli’s penalty appeal], I couldn’t see from the bench, but sometimes you have good luck with referees and sometimes you have bad luck,” De Boer added.
Although the decisions of Danish official Rasmussen gave City reason to feel aggrieved, they only had themselves to blame for some inept defending in the first half.
Ajax captain Siem de Jong capitalized twice, scoring from close range in the 10th minute and then heading in at the near post in the 17th minute after City were twice caught napping at corners.
However, Toure’s fine chest-and-volley mid-way through the first half brought the hosts back into the game and Aguero equalized 16 minutes from time.
It leaves City on the verge of elimination in the group phase for the second year in a row and Mancini said his side had been made to pay for previous failings, in a 3-2 loss at Real Madrid and a 3-1 defeat at Ajax.
“We conceded six goals against Real Madrid and Ajax,” he said. “At 2-1 at the Bernabeu [against Madrid], you have a chance to take at least a point, not lose the game. Against Ajax [in Amsterdam], we didn’t play well. We were 1-0 up and didn’t take our chance to score a second goal. Maybe it’s not our moment in the Champions League.”
City’s campaign will be over if they fail to win at home to Madrid in their next game on Nov. 21, but Ajax will approach the visit of leaders Borussia Dortmund with renewed hope of crashing into the qualifying places.
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Manchester City have confirmed defender Josko Gvardiol suffered a broken leg in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Gvardiol was one of two City centerbacks who went off injured in the second half, along with Ruben Dias, before Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time equalizer for the visitors. The draw left second-placed City six points behind English Premier League leaders Arsenal. City, announcing Gvardiol sustained a tibial fracture to his right leg, added in a statement issued on Monday: “The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the
RSS