UEFA Champions League 2016/17: AS Monaco 3-1 Manchester City - 5 Talking Points
Leonardo Jardim’s Monaco completed a remarkable second leg comeback to knock Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City out of the UEFA Champions League. The first leg between the two sides ended up being a goal fest with the Manchester outfit winning it 5-3.
Monaco needed to score at least to bring the tie level on aggregate, which would ensure their progression to the quarter-final courtesy of the much-maligned away goal rule. Kylian Mbappe opened the scoring for the home side in the 8th minute before Fabinho doubled the tally in the 29th minute.
Leroy Sane pulled one back for the visitors in the 71st minute putting Manchester City ahead in terms of goal scored. However, their joy was short-lived as Tiemoue Bakayoko scored the winner only 8 minutes later. The loss meant that Pep Guardiola crashed out of the UEFA Champions League in the round of 16 for the first time in his career. It also meant that reigning Premier League champions Leicester City are the only remaining English team in the elite competition.
Here are the biggest talking points from the game:
Pep’s decision to drop Yaya Toure proved costly
Manchester City’s defensive woes this season are well documented and despite that when Pep Guardiola opted to start only 1 defensive midfielder in Fernandinho against Monaco, it was always going to be risky.
The decision to field 5 attackers backfired as Jardim's side coasted to a 2-goal lead within the first 30 mins. The already leaky defence of the Citizens was further exposed due to the lack of added reinforcements in front of them allowing the Monaco attackers to run riot.
Guardiola’s tendency to tinker with the formation and the line-up has had mixed results in the recent past and it must force the Spaniard to reconsider his tactics with the quality of the squad available to him.