CITY EDGE AHEAD OF SCHALKE AMID VAR FARCE
MARTIN SAMUEL It’s a VAR farce but Sterling grabs late winner for ten-man City
Raheem Sterling rescued ten-man manchester City with a 90th-minute winner after a Var fiasco had threatened to derail their Champions league ambitions at Schalke.
the unfancied germans turned the first leg of their Champions league last-16 tie on its head when they were awarded two penalties late in the first half, the first after a lengthy and farcical Var stoppage.
Both were struck home by nabil Bentaleb, cancelling out Sergio aguero’s opener, but leroy Sane’s stunning leveller against his former club revived City’s hopes after nicolas Otamendi was sent off. Sterling then stole in for a remarkable last-minute winner.
that assured City of the advantage heading into the return leg at the etihad Stadium, but fall-out from a clash they were expected to win comfortably could rage for some time.
the main talking point was Schalke’s equaliser after Otamendi was adjudged to have handled, with play held up for around three minutes. it was unclear whether it was intentional and it also seemed the referee’s pitchside monitor was broken.
But Pep guardiola surprisingly spoke up for the video refereeing system, saying: ‘the penalties were penalties and the red card is a red card. We gave away the goals and the red card. We gave them options to be in the game.
‘i’m a big fan of Var. it’s a penalty. the referee told me the machine was broken. i support the initiative. the referees need help and that is Var’s intention.’
City were the better team throughout, and their two-goal fightback came when down to ten men after Otamendi was sent off for a second bookable offence, a foul on guido Burgstaller and then a reaction to the free-kick.
But what a goal it was from Sane that got City back into this game. it was a free-kick, 25 yards out, which the german took in an old-fashioned style but with incredible panache. a full throttle run-up, a huge left-foot strike and the ball up and over the wall, in with the merest flick off the post. goalkeeper ralf Fahrmann was left powerless to prevent it.
the winner was less spectacular but just as impressively effective. a long punt by City goalkeeper ederson saw Sterling go shoulder to shoulder with Bastian Oczipka, who fell looking for a foul, didn’t get it, and left the england man to finish smartly.
What a comeback just when it looked as if guardiola was about to lose his first tie to a german side. and to Var, too.
referee Carlos del Cerro grande wanted to have a look at his monitor, but the tV was on the fritz. the whole process of giving a Schalke penalty took close to four minutes, and few inside the ground had a clue what was going on. By the end of it, the hosts were level and maybe the decision was merited, but there was little here that will convince the sceptics of Var’s worth.
For much of the first half, it looked as if City could put this tie away before the second leg.
By half-time, they trailed 2-1. how? a combination of rashness on the part of Fernandinho and the vagaries of Var.
Schalke, having looked entirely without ambition, benefited from two penalties and not only the big calls and the goals went against manchester City.
they also lost two key players for the return — in Fernandinho and Otamendi.
Schalke were playing one up, at best, and allowing City possession by dropping deeper and deeper. eventually, the home side lost concentration and a goal.
With 19 minutes gone, Fahrmann was caught in two minds by foolishness on the part of his team-mates at the opposite end of the field. aymeric laporte went up for a challenge with Schalke’s mark Uth, which he won.
the german wanted a foul, which it wasn’t and stayed down as if injured, which he wasn’t. the ball found its way back to Fahrmann, who seemed undecided whether to kick for touch and allow Uth treatment; which he didn’t need.
instead, he hit a short pass to defender Salif Sane, who prepared to receive it with the relish he might stolen goods. David Silva nipped in, nicked the ball and squared it to aguero, who only had to roll it into an empty net.
it was a save from Fahrmann that changed the game. he kept out a low, curling free-kick from Kevin De Bruyne that, had it gone in, would have given City a two-goal lead and forced a kick-off restart.
that would have left Schalke without the opportunity to keep the ball in play from Fahrmann’s save and mount a rare sortie upfield, which ended in the penalty decision that got them level.
Perhaps it was a penalty, but it was certainly a mess. Daniel Caligiuri’s shot looked goalbound until it struck Otamendi.
immediately, Schalke players surrounded referee Del Cerro grande, screaming for a penalty. this seemed to do the trick as he called for a Var ruling. Well, at least we presume he did. UeFa said fans would be kept fully informed of developments without being shown a replay of the incident. that didn’t happen.
We know Var was in effect because the players mooned around or followed the official like a gang of unsubtle pickpockets, while he walked around with his finger in one ear. then, with nobody any the wiser, he called both captains together to order them to tell their players to stop crowding him.
Finally, he handed down his decision. Penalty to Schalke. Otamendi looked to be trying to get his arm out of the way but, bottom line, he failed.
Finally, when Bentaleb was standing over the ball, UeFa felt confident enough to inform the paying specators a penalty had been awarded via Var. thanks for that.
Otamendi was booked, Bentaleb went right, City keeper ederson left. Somehow, Schalke were level. the whole process had taken more than four minutes.
Several minutes later, Schalke were ahead. another rare expedition into the City penalty area produced unnecessary action from Fernandinho, who defended a free-kick by grappling with Salif Sane. this time, Del Cerro grande spotted the offence without assistance. he booked Fernandinho and Bentaleb stepped up for a second time.
this time he went left, as did ederson again, but the connection was too good and well-placed.
City must have wondered what had hit them. european football circa 2019, it would seem. MANCHESTER CITY (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Fernandinho, Otamendi, Laporte; De Bruyne (Zinchenko 87), Gundogan, D Silva (Kompany 70); B Silva, Aguero (L Sane 78), Sterling. Subs not used: Muric, Danilo, Mahrez, Foden. Booked: Ederson, Fernandinho. Sent off: Otamendi. SCHALKE (5-4-1): Fahrmann; Caligiuri, Bruma, S Sane, Nastasic, Oczipka; McKennie (Skrzybski 77), Serdar, Bentaleb, Mendyl (Burgstaller 65); Uth (Harit 88). Subs not used: Rudy, Matondo, Kutucu, Nubel. Booked: S Sane, Burgstaller, Uth. Man of the match: Sergio Aguero. Referee: Carlos Del Cerro Grande. Attendance: 54,417.