Sane double secures Champions League top spot for Man City
MANCHESTER, Uni te d Kingdom: Manchester City survived a sloppy start to secure top spot in Champions League Group F by coming from behind to beat Hoffenheim 2-1 thanks to Leroy Sane’s double on Wednesday.
Andrej Kramaric’s penalty put the Germans deservedly in front on 16 minutes as another muchchanged City side struggled to get up to speed.
However, Pep Guardiola’s men found their feet as the first half wore on and were level just before the break courtesy of a brilliant Sane free-kick.
Guardiola was frustrated by his side’s wastefulness in front of goal in the second period, but Sane did at least secure victory by converting Raheem Sterling’s pass on the hour mark.
“We started flat because this team is so demanding in terms of how they attack the space, their physicality, they are stronger than us,” said Guardiola.
“After that we created an incredible amount of chances, but the result is good.
“We are in the best 16, now we are going to see the draw and especially try to arrive in the right moment.”
City made li fe dif ficult for themselves in the group with a flat performance in losing at home to Lyon in their opening group game and were similarly caught cold having already secured their place in the last 16. Kramaric had fired a warning shot inches over before Ederson produced an incredible finger- tip stop to turn another
We started flat because this team is so demanding in terms of how they attack the space, their physicality, they are stronger than us. Pep Guardiola, Manchester City manager
curling effort from the Croatian behind.
However, Kramaric’s luck was in third time round from the penalty spot after Aymeric Laporte was punished for hauling down Benjamin Hubner.
All of City’s best efforts before the break came from set- pieces as Gabriel Jesus and Nicolas Otamendi struck the woodwork. But the hosts were finally level in spectacular fashion when Sane curled a free- kick into the top corner from 30 yards out.
Hoffenheim needed to win just to have a chance of qualifying for the Europa League knockout stage in third, but in their desperation to chase a winner left themselves hopelessly exposed to the pace of Sane and Sterling after the break.
“I don’t think three points sums up our position completely. We would have gone further if we had got the points we should have done,” said Hoffenheim boss Julian Nagelsmann, who will leave to join RB Leipzig next season.
“As newcomers to this competition, we have learnt a lot, we have played well in the tournament and come back several times in games. We have done a lot for this club and hope there will be more of this in the future.” Sane was guilty of overplaying as City incredibly spurned a three-against-one when Sterling fed the German, who tried to tee up the surprised Bernardo Silva rather than going for goal himself and Baumann saved the Portuguese’s shot.