Last-gasp Aguero goal sinks Villarreal
Reuters - Tuesday 18 October 2011, 22:32
Manchester City cut
it fine to keep their Champions League ambitions on track on
Tuesday with substitute Sergio Aguero scoring deep in stoppage
time to give them a dramatic 2-1 win at home to Villarreal in
Group A.
With the clock ticking in the third minute of added-time,
City were bracing themselves for only one point that would have
severely damaged their chances of making the knockout round,
when Aguero slid the ball home with the last kick of the game.
City manager Roberto Mancini, stunned when the visitors had
taken a fourth-minute lead through Cani, had watched his side
pull back through a Carlos Marchena own goal before the break
and waste numerous opportunities throughout the game.
He abandoned his usual dignified air to jump up and down,
punching the air with his fists and hugging his staff, when the
goal went in to keep the Premier League leaders in touching
distance of the group pace-setters Bayern Munich and Napoli who
drew 1-1 in Italy.
"I hope that it will be very important, this goal," the
Italian told a news conference. "Everything can happen in this
group, also for the first place."
The result puts City on four points from three games, with
Villarreal yet to score a point. Bayern head the group on seven
with Napoli on five.
It could have all been so different as City looked once
again in danger of being unable to match their sizzling domestic
form with a top performance on the European stage after a 1-1
draw with Napoli and 4-1 defeat by Bayern.
The visitors silenced the home crowd in the fourth minute
when City keeper Joe Hart could only parry Giuseppe Rossi's
shot, sending the ball to the feet of Cani who slid it home.
Spain international David Silva, who had before the game
warned his City team-mates of the danger the visitors posed on
the break, would have done well to remember his words when he
carelessly lost the ball to put them through.
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The late arrivals glanced at the scoreboard on the way to
their seats tutting in disbelief that the Champions League
adventure could soon be over and then watched as City's chances
poured in as heavily as the rain.
Aleksandar Kolarov's goal-bound free-kick midway through the
first half was tipped over the bar by Diego Lopez, while Nigel
de Jong went close with a long-range effort and Yaya Toure
squandered a good opportunity.
Mancini's decision to bring on holding midfielder
Gareth Barry for Adam Johnson in the 40th minute stabilised City
and allowed Toure to get further forward and they made it count
soon afterwards.
The lively Kolarov sent a cross from the left towards the
rushing Edin Dzeko in the box but the sliding Marchena got to it
first and turned it past his own keeper in the 43rd minute.
City had repeatedly been caught offside, with fans hurling
all manner of paper missiles including paper aeroplanes and
scrunched up balls at the linesman to vent their frustration.
Second-half chances fell to Dzeko, who missed a free header
and had an effort disallowed for offside, while Pablo Zabaleta
could have snatched the win late on, leaving Mancini critical of
so many wasted opportunities.
"I think in the Champions League, when you have one chance
you must score," he said. "If not, the game can go another way.
We had a lot of chances, for this I think we deserved to win
this game."
A lot of that will be forgiven though as Aguero, starting on
the bench after a groin injury, came to the rescue.
The Argentine was in the right place at the right time after
Zabaleta's cross was flicked on by Silva at the near post and he
tapped it over the line to send the Etihad stadium wild.
Asked what had been going through his mind two minutes into
stoppage-time, Mancini replied: "I hope to score in every second
but there was the last chance.
"I think that in that moment we were lucky, you need to be
lucky to score in the last second."
The result leaves Villarreal facing an uphill task, starting
with the visit of City in their next group game in just over a
fortnight.
"We have played a good match and we did not deserve to win
but to draw 1-1," Villarreal coach Juan Carlos Garrido told a
news conference.