Manchester City 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen: Highlights, man of the match, stats as Man City handed shock defeat

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Fantastic Flekken stars as Leverkusen land surprise Champions League win over Man City
© Imago / Sportimage

Bayer Leverkusen landed a surprise 2-0 win against Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday night, handing the Citizens their first league phase defeat since 2018.

Manchester City may have had the better of the first half, including big chances falling to Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and Tijjani Reijnders, but they were vulnerable to the Bayer Leverkusen counter attack, and the visitors exploited exactly that as Alejandro Grimaldo scored, with the Spaniard's goal separating the two sides at the break.

A similar pattern emerged in the second half as Man City dominated the ball but were consistently denied by the Leverkusen defence and goalkeeper, while the visitors enjoyed success on the counter, including doubling their lead thanks to Patrik Schick's header. 

While the introduction of Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki certainly caused more problems for the visitors as the game neared its final whistle, Leverkusen were able to hold out to seal a fantastic 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.

SPORTS MOLE'S VERDICT

Pep Guardiola made a massive 10 changes to his starting 11 today, and that certainly showed on the pitch as they looked miles off the pace in both attack and defence. 

Nico Gonzalez, Rico Lewis and Reijnders looked particularly chaotic positionally in the first half, with all three often caught out of position far too high up the pitch, allowing the likes of Tillman and Maza to receive the ball in acres of space between the City midfield and defensive lines. 

That was demonstrated perfectly in the build up to Grimaldo's opening goal, and their counter-attacking threat remained throughout the match even following City's changes, highlighted by Schick's second. 

The introduction of Haaland and Cherki certainly made Man City more of a threat in the final third, but the Bayer Leverkusen back three were superb in quickly closing down any potential opportunities, while their wing-backs and midfielders applied plenty of pressure to help force transitions. 

After a clear improvement from the Citizens in recent months, tonight's defeat will certainly demoralise them, and they will have to quickly move past today's defeat as they move into the busy winter schedule. 

MANCHESTER CITY VS. BAYER LEVERKUSEN HIGHLIGHTS

Alejandro Grimaldo goal vs. Manchester City (23rd min, Manchester City 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen)

Grimaldo gives Bayer Leverkusen the lead!

Malik Tillman plays a pass out wide to Ibrahim Maza on the right wing, the midfielder gets to the edge of the Man City box and delivers a cross towards the far post. 

Christian Kofane gets a touch to lay the ball off, and Grimaldo races onto the loose ball and fires a low strike into the bottom right corner.

Patrik Schick goal vs. Manchester City (54th min, Manchester City 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen)

Schick doubles Bayer Leverkusen's lead!

Tillman fires the ball out wide to Grimaldo, and the defender passes back inside to Maza, who takes one touch and delivers an in-swinging cross towards the penalty spot.

Schick expertly makes a darting run across Ake and gets the feintest touch to direct the ball out of James Trafford's reach and into the right corner.

MAN OF THE MATCH - MARK FLEKKEN

For all the attacking brilliance from Bayer Leverkusen to ensure the victory, it never would have been possible without the repeated goalkeeping heroics of Flekken between the sticks. 

The goalkeeper made a fantastic nine saves throughout the 90 minutes, superbly preventing Manchester City from scoring from their massive 19 shots and 1.84 expected goals. 

Tillman, Maza and Grimaldo all also deserve credit, producing a composed performance to help lead their side to victory against the Citizens.

MANCHESTER CITY VS. BAYER LEVERKUSEN MATCH STATS

Possession: Manchester City 55%-45% Bayer Leverkusen

Shots: Manchester City 19-7 Bayer Leverkusen

Shots on target: Manchester City 7-2 Bayer Leverkusen

Corners: Manchester City 9-3 Bayer Leverkusen

Fouls: Manchester City 4-8 Bayer Leverkusen

BEST STATS

WHAT NEXT?

Manchester City's focus now returns to the Premier League, where they will aim to bounce back from the weekend's defeat to Newcastle United when they take on Leeds United at the Etihad Stadium. 

Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen will look to build on back-to-back Bundesliga victories when they face Borussia Dortmund on Saturday evening. 

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