1. Manchester City finally managed a sweet victory against Bayern Munich
This was Manchester City’s third victory against Bayern Munich but the other two were bittersweet wins. They defeated Bayern in December 2011 in their last Group A game for that season but Napoli ended up reaching the knockout stages, condemning Roberto Mancini’s side to the Europa League.
Last season, City had already qualified for the knockout stages when they defeated Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena but there was a possibility of City topping the group. The Citizens miscalculated the number of the goals required to top the group and ending up drawing Barcelona in the round of 16.
This recent win though had nothing anti-climactic about it. Manchester City had a good Wednesday night in terms of the results in Group E. City could have been knocked out of the group stages but AS Roma’s draw at CSKA Moscow and this win hoisted Manuel Pellegrini’s side into second place. They will take on Roma with their destiny in their own hands.
2. Bayern Munich’s central defence remains the side’s achilles heel
Last season Bayern reached the semi-finals mainly thanks to their technically superior midfielders and clinical forwards but they were always vulnerable when their opponents floated long balls behind their central defenders.
Their centre-backs still hold a high defensive line when they attack but they are not comfortable against those direct threats. Medhi Benatia’s could have cleanly tackled Sergio Aguero if he used his left foot but he went for the wrong foot ending up getting sent-off.
Dante and Jerome Boateng completed the game as a centre-back pairing and they also made some costly mistakes when City picked out Aguero with similar balls. Pep Guardiola will have to find a solution to that problem otherwise better teams will knock them out by exploiting that weakness.
3. Pellegrini does not trust Pablo Zabaleta at right-back against Bayern Munich
Manchester City have clashed four times with Bayern Munich in Pellegrini’s reign. In all those games, you might Zabaleta to start at right-back given that he has been City’s first choice right back throughout that period.
Last season, Pellegrini gave rare starts to Micah Richards in both the home and away games against Bayern Munich. This season, Bacary Sagna started when Manchester City lost at Bayern Munich. That trend continued in this game as Zabaleta started on the bench and was only introduced with just over 20 minutes to go and against 10-man Bayern Munich.
4. It was a mixed 33rd birthday for Xabi Alonso
This was a special game for Alonso who was playing against Pellegrini’s team on his birthday. Pellegrini showed a lot of confidence in the Spaniard by bringing him to Real Madrid when he was in charge of the Spanish giants.
After scoring from a free-kick by intelligently exploiting Joe Hart’s poor positioning, Alonso was brilliant for 85 minutes of the game, containing Manchester City’s threats despite Bayern Munich playing for large parts of the game with 10 men. All his good work though was ruined by his error which led to Manchester City’s equaliser.
5. Manchester City still have to improve despite the winning momentum
Manchester City badly needed the wins they have secured in their last two outings after a huge dip in form prior to those games. But they were average against Swansea City and they laboured to overcome Guardiola’s side, who played for more than 70 minutes a man down.
They have to improve their performance if they are to keep this winning momentum.
