Manchester City 1 – 1 AS Roma
Manchester City 1 – 1 AS Roma
Etihad Stadium (55,097)
GOAL SCORERS
FLORENZI (14)
GUNDOGAN (17)
Florenzi (pictured) celebrating his goal against Manchester City
The second match day is here as AS Roma face Manchester City at the Etihad stadium. AS Roma will be looking to win this game after coming up with a loss against AC Milan while Manchester city will also be looking for a win after their loss against Real Madrid.
As always, the pressure should be on Manchester as they are the favourites and they are playing at home. Fert said in his pre-match conference that if Roma is to get anything from this game, his defenders will have stop the ball from getting to Aguero as he is the danger man in this game. He also said that it would not be an easy game especially being the away side.
With Sterling and Sane injured, Manchester City managed by Dominic Latouche make four changes to the starting line up that lost to Real Madrid 2 - 1. The team started out with a 4-3-3(b) formation.
Manchester City line up:
E Moraes (88)
L Fernandinho (92) N Otamendi (91) (c) V Kompany (91) B Mendy (90)
D Silva (94)
K De Bruyne (94) I Gundogan (92)
B Silva (91) G Jesus (89)
S Aguero (94)
With Perotti injured, AS Roma make one change to the starting line up the lost 1 – 0 to AC Milan as Florenzi plays as a RW instead of a RB. Peres starts his first match for Roma this season as a right back. Fans were hoping to see Vietto start but unfortunately, he just makes the bench. AS Roma use the same formation as Manchester City which is the 4-3-3(b) formation.
AS Roma line up:
B Alisson (89)
A Kolarov (90) K Manolas (91) M Gonalons (90) B Peres (89)
D De Rossi (92) (c)
R Nainggolan (93) K Strootman (91)
S El Shaarawy (90) A Florenzi (91)
E Dzeko (92)
First Half:
The game started in front of 53,335 people in the Etihad stadium. Manchester City started the kick off and went straight to attack the opposition’s half. At the second minute, David Silva played a beautiful pass to Aguero. Aguero didn’t even allow the ball to touch the ground as he tried to dink it over Alisson but Alisson got a hand to it. Another chance came in the second minute as Bernardo Silva passed the ball to Aguero, but Allison manages to catch the shot after Aguero tried to chip him. Fert told his team to attack so in the 8th minute Florenzi crossed the ball to Dzeko but Dzeko’s shot sails over the bar. Roma’s goal came in the 14th minute as Florenzi and Dzeko were through on goal. Dzeko passed the ball to Florenzi and Florenzi took the shot to the top corner as Moraes couldn’t reach it. It took up to three minutes for a goal from Manchester city to come as they got a free kick in a dangerous spot. De Bruyne saw Gundogan unmarked and crossed the ball to him. Gundogan headed the ball into the net as Alisson got a hand to the ball but the header was to strong for him. Ten minutes later, Florenzi crossed the ball to Dzeko but the keeper got a hand to it. Nainggolan decides to use the corner to cross the ball to El Shaarawy but yet again Moraes tips the ball with an acrobatic save. The first half ended with Moraes keeping the game 1 – 1 as he made two saves to stop Roma from scoring.
Second Half:
AS Roma started the second half by passing the ball around the back. That was the most interesting thing that happened in the half as both teams had zero shots on goal. Some fans were seen leaving the stadium in the 60th minute as the match was getting too boring to watch. Those unlucky fans that stayed till 90th minute woke up as the referee blew the final whistle. Some fans demanded that they should be given a refund as they only watched 45 minutes of action and another 45 minutes of watching paint dry. The match ended 1 – 1 which is a fair result given the poor second half.
FULL TIME: Manchester City 1 – 1 AS Roma
MOTM: Ilkay Gundogan
Some fans(pictured) sleeping during the 1-1 draw at the Etihad stadium
Post Match Conference:
Reporters caught up with Fert and asked for his comments about the match. Here’s what Fert had to say: “I’m very happy with a draw against Manchester City as they are a strong team and they were playing at home. With Inter Milan next, I hope that win is possible”. When asked why Vietto didn’t start, he said that Florenzi convinced him that he would score in this match and he did score in this match. Vietto will get his chance soon enough. "I will also like to apologise to the fans that had to watch that 2nd half. See you on Sunday." The goal scorer Florenzi was also available for comment. Here what he had to say: “I’m very happy to have scored a goal here at Manchester City’s home ground. I would have loved a win, but I think a draw is a fair result. Hopefully a win will come in the next match”.
