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Manchester City edged past Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in the Champions League.
The Sky Blues exerted their dominance from the outset and controlled possession. However, a combination of indecisiveness and wayward finishing in the final third contributed to the teams going in level at the break. The visitors showcased a little more bravery after the restart but were unable to carve out any clear-cut openings.
Inevitably, the Cityzens breached a stubborn Zagreb defence when Raheem Sterling poked in Riyad Mahrez’s cross, six minutes after the hour mark. The hosts put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time when Phil Foden finished off a brisk counter-attack.
Here is a look at the players that impressed and those that weren’t quite at their best.
#5 Raheem Sterling – Hit
Raheem Sterling was dropped to the bench when Zagreb came visiting on Tuesday. However, when he was introduced, he left quite an enormous imprint on the game, a mark that outshone plenty of his teammates, despite the Englishman being on the pitch for just more than half an hour.
After replacing Bernardo Silva, the forward was a bundle of energy throughout his appearance as he tormented the visitors’ defence.
In the first half, the Cityzens were guilty of lacking a bit of speed and conviction in the attacking third. And, Sterling provided that in abundance as he conjured a goal and an assist.
For the goal, the Englishman showcased his offensive instinct as he reacted quicker than anyone else. After Mahrez was released into space, Sterling raced past his man to slot home the opener.
In the dying moments of the match, the forward led a rapid counter attack and fed the ball to Foden. His countryman made no mistake and thumped the ball into the back of the net. Thus, after a slightly patchy performance at the weekend, Sterling again proved his worth at the Etihad.
#4 Bernardo Silva – Flop
Bernardo Silva was recalled into the starting eleven against Dinamo Zagreb as Pep Guardiola shuffled his offensive pack. However, rather surprisingly, the Spaniard played Riyad Mahrez and Silva in tandem, meaning that the latter had to fulfil an unfamiliar left-wing role. Subsequently, the Portuguese failed to stamp his authority on the game as he looked uncomfortable on the opposite flank.
Though the midfielder put in a shift and made several runs to attract defenders, he couldn’t combine his industry with ingenuity, thereby enabling the Zagreb rear-guard to snuff out attacks down his side.
Astonishingly though, Bernardo found himself in quite a few promising situations yet failed to produce an end product.
In the early stages of the game, the Portuguese had the opportunity to put the hosts ahead. However, he lashed at those chances horribly, leading to those shots going well off-target. In light of his timid performance, Bernardo was hauled off near the hour mark with Raheem Sterling being installed in his stead.
Over the past fifteen months, the midfielder has arguably been the Sky Blues’ most invaluable player. Yet, on Tuesday, he turned in a display that he might not look too fondly at.
#3 Dominik Livakovic – Hit
Dominik Livakovic faced a herculean task on his hands, trying to tie down an effervescent Manchester City attack. After all, the Sky Blues had scored 33 goals in 11 games, before the encounter with Zagreb.
However, to his credit, he passed that test with flying colours.
Though his side eventually succumbed to a 2-0 defeat, the goalkeeper distinguished himself with an assured display in between the sticks. An early defensive error called him into action in the first half. A stray back-pass interested Sergio Aguero and the Argentine raced towards goal. However, despite hesitating slightly, the Croatian made himself big to thwart the striker, thereby keeping the game goalless at the break.
Apart from that save, Livakovic looked calm and composed under crosses and rarely flapped at high balls. Though there was the odd nervy moment, the 24-year-old ensured that City didn’t run riot at the Etihad.
Over the past couple of seasons, several goalkeepers have come to Manchester City and have been dismantled spectacularly. To put things into perspective, Ben Foster recently shipped in 8 goals at the Etihad.
However, none of that materialised on Tuesday and Livakovic managed to maintain respectability to a score-line that could’ve gone very awry.
#2 Benjamin Mendy – Flop
The French full-back featured from the start against Zagreb as Guardiola handed Oleksandr Zinchenko a rest. The game represented quite an important junction on Benjamin Mendy’s road to recovery, especially with his Ukrainian replacement flourishing in his absence.
However, the Frenchman was far from his best at the Etihad as he came up with a shabby performance.
Though Mendy forayed forward frequently, he wasn’t able to utilise his attacking adventures optimally. On quite a few occasions, the Frenchman failed to pick out a teammate in the box, invariably hitting the first man while attempting crosses.
Additionally, he looked just a touch rusty defensively with a string of agricultural fouls. Thus, it wasn’t a surprise that the visitors got more change out of Mendy than Joao Cancelo on the other flank.
On his day, the Frenchman is certainly one of the most marauding full-backs going around, considering his propensity to run powerfully with the ball and maintain composure in the final third. However, the latter aspect deserted him completely on Tuesday, meaning that he failed to make the impression many expected him to.
#1 Rodri – Hit
In the summer of 2019, Manchester City broke the bank to acquire Rodri. The Spaniard had earned rave reviews for his displays at Atletico Madrid and seemed the perfect long-term replacement for Fernandinho.
And, in the formative stages of the season, the midfielder has proved that those notions weren’t too far off the mark. Against Zagreb, Rodri bossed the middle of the park and was a colossus in midfield. On numerous occasions, he recovered possession and also seemed to get to every loose ball quicker than his rivals.
Moreover, he displayed exemplary positional awareness to slot in between the centre backs and orchestrate the play. On other instances, he pushed the team higher up the pitch and even won the ball back near the Zagreb penalty area a couple of times.
However, the most impressive aspect of his performance was the way he distributed the ball. Often dubbed the ‘new Sergio Busquets’, the Spaniard sprayed passes all around the pitch and rarely put a foot wrong.
Rodri was also instrumental in the Cityzens’ opener as he scythed through the Zagreb defence with a perfectly weighted through ball for Mahrez. The Algerian then squared the ball for Sterling to prod the ball home.
After a sensational 2018-19 season, many felt that the Sky Blues couldn’t improve further. Yet, courtesy Rodri, they’ve somehow managed to add another dimension to their side. And, with more time under his belt, the Spaniard would only get better; not something the rest of Europe would particularly be keen to hear.
