FC Schalke vs Manchester City report: Manchester City report

Manchester City produced an epic comeback and beat Schalke at the Veltins Arena by a 3-2 scoreline. This feisty encounter began with the away side holding a lot of the ball. Like it does in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s well-oiled machine was doing just what it’s meant to do.

They were moving the ball well and the likes of Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva were enjoying ample time on the ball. They were starting to pierce the Schalke back-line but there was still a spark missing in the City side.

City kept pushing in the opening minutes which saw Sergio Aguero link up well with Kevin De Bruyne on multiple occasions. Although they kept putting the ball into the Schalke box, they were unable to find the decisive touch to put them into the lead.

They opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Ralf Faehrmann’s weak pass to his defender was pounced on by the ageless David Silva. He casually passed it into Aguero’s path who then scored one of the easiest goals of his career with a tap-in to make it 1-0.

Although they continued to dominate possession, their lead didn’t last very long as in the 38th minute, when the ball hit Nicholas Otamendi on the arm, VAR awarded Schalke a penalty. Nabil Bentaleb stepped up and scored from the spot to make it 1-1 on the night.

Seven minutes later, a Schalke set-piece situation saw Fernandinho clip the ankle of Salif Sane. The referee awarded yet another penalty. Bentaleb scored again from six yards to make it 2-1 with half-time beckoning.

With the start of the second period, City began to pile on the pressure. The Schalke defence stood strong but despite their best efforts, City were still creating good chances but lacked that final touch. 

And the game turned on its neck in the 68th minute when Nicholas Otamendi’s foul earned him a second yellow card of the night. He was dismissed and Guardiola immediately reacted by bringing on Vincent Kompany to replace David Silva. 

City finally got their equaliser from a bit of individual brilliance when Leroy Sane whipped a powerful and rather ridiculous free-kick past the helpless Schalke goalkeeper to make it 2-2. They kept attacking even after being a man down and finished the game very strongly. 

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In the 90th minute, Ederson’s long kick from the City half found Sterling in behind the defence and when he was clean through on goal, he made no mistake and tucked it into the net to give City a thrilling 3-2 win away from home.

Here’s how some thrilled Manchester City fans reacted to this emphatic away victory: