Tuesday’s Champions League match between Manchester City and FC Copenhagen in Copenhagen ended in a 0-0 tie after Riyad Mahrez missed a penalty and Sergio Gomez was sent off due to the use of VAR.
Pep Guardiola’s team missed out on a chance to advance to the round of 16 as VAR controversially disallowed Rodri’s goal and, less controversially, sent out Gomez for a professional foul.
Mahrez’s most recent missed penalty kick occurred in the first half before to Gomez’s untimely exit.
And with Erling Haaland on the bench for Sunday’s trip to Liverpool, the Premier League champions failed to score for the first time in 24 games across all competitions.
They would have been assured of advancing from Group G with a victory, but had to settle for averting loss after an hour of play with 10 men.
With 10 points from their first four games, City is still on track to qualify for the round of 16, but they will have to wait until Borussia Dortmund’s match against Sevilla later on Tuesday to discover if they are through with two games to spare.
Without Haaland, who has scored an amazing 20 goals in 12 competitive games since joining City from Dortmund in the offseason, City lacked a cutting edge.
Haaland scored twice in just 45 minutes during last week’s 5-0 thrashing of Copenhagen, although Guardiola may have expected his team to dominate the Danish minnows even without his contributions.
However, Copenhagen had only lost one of their previous 13 Champions League group home games, and, boosted by the VAR mayhem, they proved to be tougher opponents at the Parken Stadium than they had been in Manchester.
Mahrez misery
Young Argentine Julian Alvarez was selected as a substitute for Haaland, and he wriggled into the Copenhagen penalty area for a low shot that sailed just wide in the opening minutes.
In the eleventh minute, Rodri believed he had given City the lead with a 25-yard rocket.
However, following a lengthy VAR review, the midfielder’s goal was severely rejected for handball by Mahrez in the buildup, despite the fact that the Algerian had no control over the inadvertent touch between the ball and his arm.
Ederson had to tip over a shot from just beyond the penalty area by Lukas Lerager after City’s defense was caught out of position.
In the 24th minute, after being disallowed by VAR, City should have been awarded a penalty after a replay review of Nicolai Boilesen’s handball when he stopped Manuel Akanji’s header.
Not for the first time in a City shirt, Mahrez was unable to convert the penalty kick due to a magnificent save by Kamil Grabara to his right.
Surprisingly, VAR would intervene once more after thirty minutes when City left-back Gomez was caught on the wrong side of Hakon Haraldsson and brought down the Copenhagen midfielder.
After several seconds of play without a foul being called, referee Artur Dias walked to the pitchside monitor and returned with the red card for Gomez.
City were the first Champions League team to miss a penalty and have a player sent off in the first half since Arsenal against Bayern Munich in 2014.
Early in the second half, Grabara made a great save on Kevin De Bruyne’s curling shot from the edge of the penalty area as City attempted to overcome its numerical deficit.
Joao Cancelo’s late shot was blocked by Grabara, and City had to settle for a draw as they were unable to establish their customary possession monopoly.
AFP