City's Under-19s fell to a frustrating 3-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Youth League.
Despite dominating possession in the opening half hour, Dortmund grabbed a two-goal lead in the final five minutes of the opening 45 through Taycan Etcibasi’s penalty and a Thierry Fidjeu-Tazemeta rebounded effort.
City persevered in the second half and were unfortunate not to find a way back into the game.
But to complete a difficult afternoon, Fadi Zarqelain found a third for Dortmund in added time, which saw City fall to a second successive Youth League defeat.
WHAT HAPPENED
Heading into the clash, City and Dortmund had identical form in the competition, which suggested Wednesday’s match-up would be decided by fine margins.
City looked comfortable on home soil for the opening 30 minutes, but our best chance didn’t come until Divine Mukasa found Justin Oboavwoduo on the edge of the box on the half-hour mark.
READY FOR ACTION : City's XI to take on Dortmund.
The latter’s first touch set himself up to strike the ball towards goal, but Oboavwoduo’s shot was straight into the arms of Aaron Held.
Mukasa called Held into action again with a curling free-kick from 25 yards out, with his effort set to fly in at the near post if not for a diving save by the Dortmund ‘keeper.
However, against the run of play, the visitors scored the opening goal. Etcibasi earned his team a penalty kick when he went down under the attentions of Kian Noble, a decision City disputed heavily.
LEADING THE LINE : Matty Warhurst puts Dortmund's backline under pressure.
But the appeals fell on deaf ears, and Etcibasi converted from the spot on 40 minutes.
Dortmund quickly doubled their advantage, with Fidjeu-Tazemeta tapping home the rebound after the crossbar denied Justin Hoy’s initial curling effort.
The second half proved to be a frustrating one for City, who once again enjoyed more of the ball, but just couldn’t find the end product.
Substitute Christian Dunbar-McDonald had our best opportunities, but his two right-footed efforts were denied by Held.
And number three would follow deep into stoppage time when Zarqelain completed the scoring with a late sucker punch.
BATTLED HARD : Kian Noble puts in a shift in City's backline.
TEAMS
CITY XI | Brits, Nfonkeu, Noble, Drake (Lamb 73’), Mfuni, Fapetu, Oboavwoduo (T. Samba 46’), F. Samba, Sangare, Mukasa, Warhurst (Dunbar-McDonald 59’).
SUBS | Hudson, Vickery, Courtman, Wain, Holt.
DORTMUND | Held, Konig (Cena 80’), Benkara, Etcibasi (Faust 71’), Degener, Hoy, Fahrenhorst, Fidjeu-Tazemeta (Najdi 62’), Zarqelain, Cherny (Mirza 62’), Feddersen.
SUBS | Froese, Zisopoulos, Tanyi.
AS A RESULT
City drop to 20th in the Youth League table, with six points.
We still have a potential six points up for grabs as we chase a place in the top 22, with fixtures against Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid to come.
UP NEXT
City’s EDS have one final game before the November international break.
We travel to Brighton on Sunday 9 November, with kick-off on the south coast scheduled for 15:00 (UK).
Updates on the game will be available on our Acadmey X and Instagram channels: @ManCityAcademy. And shortly after full-time, a detailed match report will be available on mancity.com and on the Official Man City App.
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