Manchester City complete sensational comeback in Champions League first-leg thriller with Monaco

Manchester City complete sensational comeback in Champions League first-leg thriller with Monaco

Manchester City 5 Monaco 3: Pep Guardiola's side came from 3-2 down to win after a stunning night of football at the Etihad

For nearly six years Manchester City have been waiting for a European classic here at the Etihad Stadium, a game to show them what all the fuss about the Champions League is about. Well here it was, one of the best games in any competition at any point in the last few years.
First City knocked themselves out of Europe, conceding three ludicrous away goals to a deadly Monaco side. Then, realising what they had done, and how much they still wanted to be in this tournament, they roared back at Monaco, scoring three goals in 11 gleeful minutes to take the game 5-3.
It was an eight-goal thriller that, with better finishing, could have easily seen twice as many. Both sides boasted world-class front-lines and defences barely able to do the basics. There was one missed penalty for Monaco and another unfairly denied to City. It could have ended with any high single-digit score for either side, 5-3 was just the way the dice fell. There were more plot arcs in this 90 minutes than some teams manage in a season. It was the best game played here since Sergio Aguero’s 94th minute title-decider against Queens Park Rangers, nearly five years ago.
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring with a tidy finish after 26 minutes (Getty)
At the final whistle the City players and fans celebrated with a mixture of exhaustion, relief and a clear sense that something had been cracked. This was not a perfect performance, it was deeply flawed and if details had gone differently City would be waking up in crisis on Wednesday morning. But this felt like the overdue emotional connection between club and competition, first hinted at in the rout of Barcelona here in the group stage in November.
This was a game bigger than individuals but if it belonged to any man it was Sergio Aguero. His last start in a serious game, Premier League or Champions League, was one month ago against Tottenham. He now plays with the weight of knowing he is not Pep Guardiola’s first choice, and with his City future in serious doubt.
And yet Aguero played with the anger of a man who at 28 has to prove he is not finished yet. He inspired City, scoring the second-half equalisers at 2-2 and 3-3 as well as setting up the clinching fifth for Leroy Sane. He should have had a first-half penalty which, in another world, might have put City 3-1 up. As important as any of that though was the running, tracking and hassling which Aguero now sees the teenage Gabriel Jesus doing better than him. He did it so well that he had Guardiola joyously applauding him in the second half when he stole the ball on the edge

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