The Phnom Penh Post

Fans hail Hart as City ease through

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JOE Hart played potentiall­y his last Manchester City game as Pep Guardiola’s team rubberstam­ped their place in the Champions League group phase by beating Steaua Bucharest 1-0 on Wednesday night.

Leading 5-0 from last week’s away leg, City completed a 6-0 aggregate victory courtesy of Fabian Delph’s second-half header, putting them in yesterday’s group-stage draw in Monaco with room to spare.

But the spotlight at a less-than-full Etihad Stadium fell squarely on goalkeeper Hart, whose name was chanted by the home fans throughout the game after he was frozen out by new manager Guardiola.

“That was a really special night for me,” Hart, City’s captain for the night, told BT Sport. “We all know there is a situation going on. This is a special place for me, I’ve made no secret of that. But situations occur in football. We are men and we get on with it.”

With Chile’s Claudio Bravo poised to complete a £17 million ($22 million) move from Barcelona, this may have been Hart’s 348th and final Cit y appearance.

A veteran of City’s two Premier League title wins, two League Cup successes and 2011 FA Cup triumph, the England goalkeeper, 29, applauded all four corners of the ground before going off at the end.

“Joe is still a player of us. I’m so happy with him today,” Guardiola said.

“I know he’s a legend for this club. Joe is one of the reasons the club has become [what it is]. He helped to make this team one step above, so I’m so happy the people love him.”

Hart has been linked with a move to Everton or Sevilla.

His fellow outcast Yaya Toure was also handed a first competitiv­e start of the season by Guardiola, who saw Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho stretchere­d off with an apparent calf injury late on.

‘Pigs do fly!’

A picture of Hart had been removed from the stadium’s exterior wall prior to the game as part of a visual facelift, but City’s fans made it clear they were unhappy about his treatment by Guardiola.

One group of fans held a banner reading “A GOOD HART THESE DAYS IS HARD TO FIND” and a chant of “Don’t sell Joe Hart!” broke out within seconds of kick-off.

Guardiola has justified his decision to sideline Hart by citing concerns about his passing ability and there were ironic cheers every time the City goalkeeper successful­ly picked out a teammate. Asked about his successful footwork after the game, Hart joked: “Well pigs do fly, don’t they?”

City controlled the game, but although Iheanacho, Nolito and Delph all hit the target in the first half, none of them came close to troubling Steaua goalkeeper Valentin Cojocaru.

After drawing a block from Cojocaru, Delph made the breakthrou­gh in the 56th minute when he converted Jesus Navas’s right-wing cross with a glancing header.

But the home fans had other preoccupat­ions and after a chant of “Stand up if you love Joe Hart!” had drawn almost everyone in the ground to their feet, his first save, from Adrian Popa, prompted a huge cheer.

There were two further saves, to repel a free-kick from Nicolae Stanciu and a close-range Alexandru Tudorie effort, and both were greeted in the same manner.

“We were more organised today,” said Steaua coach Laurentiu Reghecampf. “The difference was the hugely valuable players City have.”

Ajax eliminated

Meanwhile, unheralded Russian side Rostov qualified for the group stage of the Champions League with a famous win over Dutch former European champions Ajax.

Rostov comfortabl­y won 4-1 in front of a delirious crowd at their compact Olimp-2 stadium to win the playoff round tie 5-2 on aggregate, with Iranian striker Sardar Azmoun, Alexander Erokhin, Ecuador midfielder Christian Noboa and Dmitry Poloz scoring the goals. Davy Klaassen got one back for Ajax with a late penalty.

The win for Rostov comes after they humbled another famous old European name, Belgian side Anderlecht, in the third qualifying round. They finished second to champions CSKA Moscow in the Russian Premier League

There will be four English teams in the group stage and four German clubs as well after Borussia Moenchengl­adbach crushed Young Boys of Switzerlan­d 6-1 for a 9-2 aggregate victory.

Denmark’s FC Copenhagen are into the group stage for the first time in three years after a late goal secured a 1-1 draw away to APOEL in Nicosia to go through 2-1 on aggregate.

Dinamo Zagreb forced extra-time in Austria via Junior Fernandes’ late equaliser against Salzburg, who had led through Valentino Lazaro.

El Arabi Hilal Soudani’s 95th-minute strike then sent the Croatian champions through 3-2 on aggregate following a 2-1 victory on the night.

 ?? ANTHONY DEVLIN/AFP ?? Goalkeeper Joe Hart applauds the crowd after Manchester City’s Champions League second-leg playoff against Steaua Bucharest on Wednesday night.
ANTHONY DEVLIN/AFP Goalkeeper Joe Hart applauds the crowd after Manchester City’s Champions League second-leg playoff against Steaua Bucharest on Wednesday night.

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