Manchester City 2 - 0 Bayern Munich: Early exit for City despite convincing victory

MANCHESTER City’s maiden Champions League campaign came to an end despite a convincing win over an under-strength Bayern Munich last night.

David Silva and Yaya Toure struck as City produced a fine attacking display to keep their slim hopes of qualifying from Group A alive, but Napoli’s defeat of Villarreal undid them.

The results mean City will now be competing in the second-tier Europa League in the new year and the latter stages at the Etihad Stadium were played out in a muted atmosphere.

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Bayern, already qualified for the last 16, were without three stars in Arjen Robben, Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger and left a host of others on the bench.

City manager Roberto Mancini made two changes from the side that thrashed Norwich at the weekend with Joleon Lescott and Stefan Savic both coming in.

The approach worked as City dominated the game and created their first opportunity after six minutes when Samir Nasri crossed for Sergio Aguero, but the player from Argentina headed over from the penalty spot.

City came forward again and Savic was bundled over by Ivica Olic wide of the Bayern area.

City thought they had taken the lead as Silva curled the resulting free-kick towards goal and Hans-Jorg Butt let it slip in, but the goalkeeper was impeded by Lescott. Bayern applied some pressure as David Alaba and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk fired over but Nasri also dragged a good chance wide.

City went ahead after 37 minutes when Barry whipped in a good ball and Silva took Dzeko’s flick in his stride to strike a superb left-foot shot into the bottom corner from 18 yards.

It was no more than the hosts deserved and they could have increased their advantage before the interval as they broke into their considerable stride.

Aguero made a brilliant run into the area and slid the ball past Butt only to be denied by a sliding stop from Jerome Boateng. Silva then forced Butt to save from a tight angle and Barry shot over on the rebound before Aguero curled another effort wide.

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The interval allowed Bayern to regroup and they went close after the restart when Danijel Pranjic shot wide, but City soon took a firm grip.

Toure instigated another slick move as he fed Aguero before continuing a run into the box. The ball came back to him via another good Dzeko flick and he beat the advancing Butt to toe-poke into the goal.

Bayern showed a further glimpse of their quality as Alaba tested Hart with a dipping half-volley, but City quickly recovered as Dzeko shot wide from long range.

With Napoli still being held at this stage, optimism around the stadium was growing, and Barry tested Butt with a fierce 20-yard drive after the hour. But word then came through the Italians had gone ahead in Spain.

The atmosphere became noticeably more subdued as news of Napoli’s opener spread, and, for a while, the only significant noise came from the large Bayern Munich section.

The sense of anti-climax only deepened when Napoli doubled their lead, but City still wanted to go down fighting as Dzeko shot at Butt. Nasri then had a tricky run halted by Butt before shooting wide from 20 yards.

Manchester City: Hart, Savic, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Toure Yaya (Balotelli 81), Barry, Nasri, Aguero, Silva (Johnson 83), Dzeko (De Jong 77). Subs not used: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Milner, Toure.

Bayern Munich: Butt, Rafinha, Boateng, Badstuber, Contento, Tymoschuk, Gustavo, Olic, Pranjic, Alaba, Petersen (Usami 81). Subs not used: Neuer, Van Buyten, Ribery, Lahm, Muller, Gomez.