CITY SO SLOPPY
Guardiola furious as his fringe players are shown up by Basle
PEP GUARDIOLA sank back into his seat with a look of disbelief and disgust. Not once but twice. He had warned his players about the perils of cheap goals in Europe and they failed to heed his words last night.
Luckily for Manchester City, there was a small price to pay on this occasion. A four-goal lead from the first leg in Switzerland last month meant they were never in danger of losing this Champions League last 16 tie.
City go into the quarter-final draw for only the second time and that was never in doubt. But Guardiola has told his players to respect the fine margins in this competition. If they make silly mistakes against the best in Europe, City will be on their way out.
They were punished twice despite taking an early lead through Gabriel Jesus, suffering only their fourth defeat in all competitions this season.
Guardiola (right) could point to the fact that it was a weakened team showing six changes from Sunday’s win over Chelsea, and one that struggled to rouse itself.
But that is not his style. He demands the highest standards from his players, whatever team he puts out, and looked furious at what he saw.
It was City’s first defeat in their 13 home ties in the Champions League. Basle boss Raphael Wicky said beforehand: ‘I could say, “you have to believe” but it would look a bit daft in front of the team.’
In came fringe players Claudio Bravo, Ben Foden and Yaya Toure for City, while John Stones was given a chance to impress after a spell on the bench, and Jesus made his first start since sustaining a knee injury on New Year’s Eve.
It took the Brazil striker just eight minutes to put City ahead. Leroy Sane cut inside and sliced through the Basle defence on a diagonal run before laying off to Bernardo Silva on the other flank.
The Portugal winger steered a cross to Jesus through the legs of two defenders, Blas Riveros and Leo Lacroix, and the striker applied a simple finish at the far post for his first goal since last November. It was also City’s 100th in the Champions League in their 56th appearance on Europe’s biggest stage.
Another Silva cross to the same spot should have brought a second City goal but goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik sprang out of his goal to smother Ilkay Gundogan’s first-time effort.
Although City were again dominating possession, Basle were always looking to catch the Premier League leaders on the break, and Geoffroy Serey Die had already beaten Oleksandr Zinchenko to Stones’ lazy pass and fired over before they equalised
in the 17th minute. Riveros burst down the left and again Stones could have done better as he failed to cut out his cross. The ball reached Mohamed Elyounoussi and he had time to size up a shot before ramming it inside Bravo’s right post.
Guardiola looked disgusted. It all went a little flat after that. City continued to dominate without making any great inroads, much to the frustration of their fans, while Basle’s boisterous followers made the most of their last sight of this competition this season.
It wasn’t City’s usual fluid performance, which was perhaps not surprising given the changes made by Guardiola, and they were punished again in the 71st minute. Toure, who had looked sharp up to that point despite his lack of firstteam action, tracked Elyounoussi’s run into the box as the Basle winger skipped past the disappointing Zinchenko.
He looked to have contained the threat until Elyounoussi turned away and played the ball into the path of Michael Lang. Aymeric Laporte sensed the danger but didn’t do enough about it. City’s £57million signing failed to make a challenge and Lang fired into the top corner from a tight angle.
Once again the cameras panned to Guardiola on the bench, and his expression said it all. MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Bravo 6; Danilo 6, Stones 5, Laporte 5.5, Zinchenko 5; Gundogan 6 (Diaz 66min, 6), Toure 6, Foden 6.5 (Adarabioyo 89); B Silva 6.5, Jesus 6, Sane 7. Subs not used: Ederson, Walker, Aguero, De Bruyne, Otamendi. Scorer: Jesus 8. Booked: Jesus. Manager: Pep Guardiola 6. BASLE (3-4-3): Vaclik 6; Suchy 6, Frei 6, Lacroix 6; LANG 7.5, Serey Die 6.5, Zuffi 6, Riveros 7; Bua 6 (Stocker 68, 6), Oberlin 6 (Van Wolfswinkel 74, 6), Elyounoussi 7. Subs not used: Salvi, Ajeti, Manzambi, Petretta, Kaiser. Scorers: Elyounoussi 17, Lang 71. Booked: Lacroix. Manager: Raphael Wicky 7. Referee: Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic) 6. Attendance: 49,411.