Key events
47 min City win a corner, easily cleared, then Savinho earns another which goes short to De Bruyne. He comes inside, teases a delectable ball into the middle, and YE’VE GOTTAE SCORE! Stones lets it hit his head, cushioning back whence it came … and wide of the post! That’s the best chance City have had, by far, and though they ought now to be level, the ease of creation and change of impetus suggests there’ll be more along shortly.
46 min We go again, Savinho on for Gundogan as we speculated. City have 45 minutes and change to save their season.
Half-time scores
Aston Vila 2-2 Celtic
Barcelona 0-0 Atalanta
Levekrusen 1-0 Sparta Prague
Bayern 1-0 Slovan Bratislava
Dortmund 2-0 Shakhtar
Brest 0-1 Real Madrid
Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 Milan
Girona 1-2 Arsenal
Inter 2-0 Monaco
Juve 0-1 Benfica
Lille 2-1 Feyenoord
PSV 3-2 Liverpool
Salzburg 0-3 Atlético
Sporting -1 Bologna
Sturm Graz -3 PSG
Young Boys 0-0 Cervena zvezda
Gosh, PSV now lead Liverpool 3-2! Your half-time scores are coming up..
City have, I’m afraid, been very poor tonight; they’ve had loads of the ball but created nothing, deficient in ideas, zest and physical power. Brugge, on the other hand, have been strong, organised and enterprising, well worth their lead for their disciplined defending and direct counter-attacking. A fair bit needs to change for this match to change.
HALF-TIME: Manchester City 0-1 Club Brugge
City need to score twice – at least – or they’re going out. With PSG 3-0 up in Stuttgart, Brugge are as good as there.
GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Club Brugge (Onyedika 45)
Now then! Mechele breaks up a City attack, challenging Gundogan, and Vanaken breaks through the middle, finding Jutgla, who diddles Nunes as easily as we feared, slides a low pass to the far side of the box, and Onyedika punishes a finish low inside the near post! The warning signs were there and City are in deep!
44 min Harvey Elliott has put Liverpool ahead in Eindhoven; likewise Ethan Nwaneri for Arsenal in Girona – and that goal is worth a look-in.
42 min So what might City do to change things? I’d be wanting crosses and bodies in the box, so would take off a midfielder, probably Kovacic, and send on a winger, Savinho or Grealish, and push Foden closer to Haaland.
41 min Brugge are growing in confidence and looked pretty sorted from the start. Jahsari carries forward and has options, but he opts to shoot, hitting low and hard, but too close to Ederson.
39 min Adam Idah has just scored his second goal in two minutes and it’s now Villa 2-2 Celtic. Scott Murray will fill you in…
38 min PSV have equalised against Liverpool; Celtic have pulled one back to trail Villa 2-1; and Jorginho has equalised for Arsenal at Girona, via penalty.
36 min De Cuyper raids down the left when found by Jashari’s lovely flick, and his square-pass into the box finds Tzolis, who laces a shot … that Akanji does really well to block. City have had all the possession, but it’s Brugge who’ve had the clearer sights of goal.
34 min Again, Foden running in behind offers City a route into the box, and Gvardiol finds him well, but his square flick is too weak to reach Haaland. Even so, Brugge might’ve panicked and wellied clear, but instead they calmly pass out of danger.
33 min A bit of possession for Brugge. It’s been a while, and City will know that these situations are, counter-intuitively, what they want, because anything that offers space in behind is better than trying to find a route through 679 defenders camped on the edge of the box or deeper.
30 min Nunes, who’s playing as a pretty orthodox right-back, collects a beautiful pass from De Bruyne that megs De Cuyper, but Tzolis chases back to make the challenge. This is very impressive from Brugge; Mignolet hasn’t had a serious shot to save and as things stand, they’re going through and City are going out.
29 min Liverpool now lead 1-0 at PSV; Arsenal now trail at 1-0 at Girona.
27 min De Bruyne is on the left of central-midfield at the moment; I’m not sure why, as it means City lose his delivery form the right. But it’s Haaland on the ball now, looking for a shooting lane and finding none, so he spreads to Foden, whose hard, low cross is collected by Mignolet.
25 min City are improving, finding more space and winning balls in messy challenges. And after one such, Haaland pokes De Bruyne away at inside-left; he lamps a rising shot high and wide of the near post.
24 min De Bruyne picks up a loose ball, won initially by Gvardiol, down the left. He cuts back for Bernardo, who sweeps goalwards, but a deflection takes the shot wide. The ref originally signals corner before amending the call to a goalkick, the ball having come off Haaland.
22 min Brugge will be very happy with their first quarter. They’ve allowed City nowt.
20 min City are getting nearer. Gundogan drills a cross-kick to the far side of the box and Haaland’s up! But instead of going for goal, he heads back across to no one – though, in fairness, the angle was against him scoring.
18 min “Speaking of United’s black kit,” says Paul McGrory, “my favourite opinion on it was Ferguson claiming that the black brought some kind of darkness over Cantona, as lots of his red cards came wearing that outfit. Nothing to do with south London racists or close marking by preposterously ponytailed defenders. And to think, it was only Ferguson’s second-most risible kit-related deflection.”
And, dare we venture, capricious temperament.
16 min Nunes drives forward, finds Bernardo and continues his run, picking up the return and drilling a cross that Mignolet shovels away. City then sustain the attack, Bernardo flicking on De Bruyne’s dink for Gundogan to slot home … but then the flag goes up and replay shows he was well offside.
15 min But now Brugge win it in midfield and finds Tzolis … who slides in behind … to no one.
14 min Better from City, a ball over the top seeking Foden; Ordonez stretches to head away. Seconds later, though, Foden drives at him, makes a shooting angle on the outside, and leathers wide of the neat post.
12 min De Bruyne tries a cross but Ordonez blocks behind, the corner coming to nothing. Thing is, Brugge are making no effort to get up and out, so as soon as the ball is cleared, City pick it up and recommence probing.
11 min “Alan is right, Alexis is wrong,” reckons Mark Hooper. “Do You Believe in Shame?, The Chauffeur, Skin Trade are the top 3. It’s the law.”
Are they the best of the 80s synth-poppers? My sense is aye.
9 min City knock it about but Brugge have their spacing right, forcing their hosts to go wide. I wonder if they might try a bit of wing-play with overlap, because picking a route through the centre won’t be easy.
9 min Great news for Brugge: PSG lead at Stuttgart. If that remains the case, they’re into the last 32.
7 min City win a corner and Brugge pull everyone back – no doubt partly to defend, but i’m sure also because, Arsenal 03-04-style, you can’t mark men charging at you from their own box. And they clear this ball easily but can’t break, so City build once more.
6 min Again, one touch and Brugge are in behind, this time wider, with Talbi, whose cross is deflected into Ederson’s arms. Elsewhere, Rogers has scored again, so Villa lead Celtic 2-0.
4 min Morgan Rogers has put Villa ahead against Celtic; join Scott Murray for all the latest.
3 min Now then! A flick on and, with City high, Tzolis is away down the left! Really, he should cut in and go for goal himself but he’s got Tzolis inside so cuts back … only to find Gvardiol is well located to block the eventuating shot.
1 min De Bruyne and Haaland sprint in to press, but Brugge are calm in possession and get the ball away from immediate danger. But City soon regain it so the visitors sit in – they’re almost a back five now, with three in front.
1 min Brugge get us going!
Boos from the crowd as the Champions league anthem plays. When will Uefa stop victimising Liddle Ciddy and their billionaire owners?
Here come our teams…
