Manchester City brushed aside Bayern Munich's reserve side at the Etihad Stadium, beating the Germans 2-0 without breaking a sweat, but ultimately they failed to advance to the knockout rounds of the Champions League thanks to results elsewhere going against them. The Bavarians had already qualified as group leaders and were therefore in no mood to risk injury to their key players, and City demolished them from almost the very beginning.
Manchester City Vs. Bayern Munich, 2011 UEFA Champions League: City Out Despite 2-0 Win
After a tentative start which saw the visitors granted far more possession than their play warranted, the Premier League leaders took over. A David Silva free kick was disallowed for Joleon Lescott's shove on Hans-Jorg Butt before the diminutive Spaniard scored for real, pulling a swerving left-footed strike out of nothing to give the hosts a 1-0 lead and put them on track for a vital win.
Halftime came and went with no goals from Spain - a Napoli win against Villarreal would have made the match in Manchester irrelevant - and City doubled their tally shortly after the break following a cool finish from the impressive Yaya Toure. Then news came in and spread around the crowd: Gokhan Inler had broken the deadlock at El Madrigal. Head went down, the crowd went silent, and the game no longer seemed to matter to anyone.
It certainly didn’t matter to Bayern, who were happy to sit around doing approximately nothing while City’s players desperately tried to summon some motivation from somewhere, hoping for a miracle from Villarreal. They didn’t get it. Napoli won, and suddenly the result (it finished 2-0 to City) was completely meaningless.
So, it was a fine performance by Roberto Mancini's men against a weak side, but a pretty terrible day regardless. Manchester City finish third in Champions League Group A, and drop to the Europa League. Now City have to pick themselves up off the ground and prepare for Chelsea next Monday. A win at Stamford Bridge would do a lot to restore their spirits, one would think.
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