Silva rides to City’s rescue
Spain star strikes late to clinch nailbiter
MIKEL ArtEtA had seen this film before. He saw Pep Guardiola race towards the halfway line, well outside his technical area, to give the linesman a piece of his mind.
the Manchester City manager had just watched referee Damir Skomina choke. Leroy Sane was clear with 18 minutes left of a relentlessly absorbing night — not a Hoffenheim defender in sight — and was felled by keeper Oliver Baumann. A definite penalty.
Skomina was in a trance and did not signal a goal-kick for some time. Guardiola was apoplectic, and not for the first time after a flurry of questionable decisions.
Arteta hauled his boss back, and the assistant’s savvy might have averted another continental incident.
this was Guardiola’s first Champions League game back after serving a one-match ban against Lyon, and at 1-1 he was fearing another failure in what is proving a troubling group.
Arteta could not stop Guardiola with three minutes left on the clock, though.
David Silva pounced on Stefan Posch’s lapse inside Hoffenheim’s area and nudged the ball past Baumann. A result, three points and all after going behind inside 43 seconds. City are finally up and running in Europe.
‘Maybe for the future it’s going to be really good for us to live this,’ said Guardiola.
‘You can’t go to quarters or semis without living it. For me, it’s a surprise when they say City will win. I appreciate it, thank you, but it’s not true.
‘We are a step below the history of Liverpool, the Spanish teams and Bayern Munich. A quarter-final for us is a huge success.’
that he shouted at the fourth official at full-time told the story. So, too, that he pointedly shook the hands of the three main officials while gesturing. Vincent Kompany spoke of a ‘trend’ in refereeing decisions. Guardiola ‘preferred not to talk’ for fear of another suspension.
‘I don’t want to talk about the officials. I want to be on the bench with my players in the next game,’ he said. ‘I know what happened against Monaco (in 2017) and Liverpool (last season). I don’t want to talk about these officials. I know what happened.’
For now, at least, his team can feel satisfied at negotiating an exceptionally tricky night. Silva saw to that with his third goal of the season.
City were breathless and brainless in equal measure, architects of manoeuvring Hoffenheim out of their shape but also of their own downfall before the break.
City had gone behind long before Aymeric Laporte saw Ederson bail him out by saving from Ishak Belfodil following a blind back pass. they had been warned of Belfodil’s dangerous lurking, the Algerian sending this place wild in the first minute.
Nicolas Otamendi was at fault, unsure of his positioning as Kerem Demirbay split the central defenders — Kompany attempted to play offside — and Belfodil slipped the ball under Ederson.
City were level seven minutes later. Aguero scrambled home beyond Baumann, but the equaliser owed as much to Silva and Sane. Silva’s dead-eyed precision set Sane away behind his marker, angling towards goal in a diagonal in trademark fashion and Aguero simply poached the cut back.
Guardiola was irritated at times. With his team and Skomina, whom he had heated words with after the Slovenian pulled play back following Silva’s smart quick throw-in releasing Sane. Aguero, potentially in the form of his career, was brutish up front, drawing a superb save from Baumann and firing a volley wide on the stretch.
Sane was key to the latter, the creation of that chance seeing the winger slalom past four blue shirts in a ridiculously tight space.
the German has rediscovered the magic from last season and it will not have gone unnoticed by his manager that he mopped up when Ederson completely misjudged a long ball as Hoffenheim countered.
‘He was quite good, yeah,’ said Guardiola. ‘I don’t want to talk too much as he is still young and has to learn. I don’t think he has the quality to play inside like Bernardo (Silva) but outside he is a special, special player.’
For all Guardiola’s complaints, Fernandinho was lucky not to have received a second booking after fouling Pavel Kaderabek.
then Hoffenheim roared red when Kyle Walker went through Kaderabek with studs showing. City screamed frustration when Sane went down.
they screamed louder when Silva got them out of jail. HOFFENHEIM (3-4-3): Baumann; Akpoguma, Posch, Hoogma; Brenet, Grillitsch (Bittencourt 82), Demirbay (Hack 89), Kaderabek; Szalai (Kramaric 54), Joelinton, Belfodil. Subs not used: Nelson, Grifo, Kobel, Amade. Booked: Demirbay. MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Kompany, Otamendi (Stones 64), Laporte; Fernandinho, Gundogan (B Silva 68), D Silva; Sterling (Mahrez 75), Aguero, Sane. Subs not used: Muric, Danilo, Jesus, Zinchenko. Booked: Otamendi, Fernandinho, Walker, Aguero. Man of the Match: Leroy Sane. Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia). Attendance: 24,851.