THE PREMIER LEAGUE champions host Serie A outfit Roma at the Etihad Stadium.
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Full-time: Manchester City 1-1 Roma
Zabaleta crosses for Silva but his flick is just wide of the post.
Three minutes plus time added on and play is stopped so Maicon can receive treatment. The Brazilian can’t continue and is replaced Vasilis Torosidis.
Lampard receives a pass on the edge of the box and shoots just wide. Meanwhile, Roma’s Alessandro Florenzi makes way for Jose Holebas while Stevan Jovetic comes on for Aguero for City.
Kompany jumps in over the back of Totti and leaves the Roma captain in pain. Their free-kick is played into Cole but he concedes a free-kick.
Frank Lampard has just replaced Edin Dzeko. Manuell Pellegrini will be hoping he can keep up his goalscoring run of four in his first four games for City.
Oh dear, Gervinho’s headband has come right off…
https://vine.co/v/O7nE3KL9JFH
Man City are struggling to grab a hold of this against a Roma side who are without two of their first choice midfielders in Daniele De Rossi and Kevin Strootman.
Pablo Zabaleta has just been yellow carded for a poor challenge.
We’re back up-and-running and immediately City have a free-kick after Manolas shoves Aguero to the ground.
30 yards out. It’s played short to Yaya Toure but his attempted pass is blocked.
Half-time: Manchester City 1-1 Roma
Gervinho puts the foot down to latch onto Maicon’s ball over the top and storms down on goal before blasting the ball at Hart, who palms over.
Navas attempts to cut the ball back to Aguero but it strikes the hand of Manolas as he attempts to make a sliding challenge. The referee waves play on, however.
Cole is inches away from connecting to a cross at the back post but it matters little as he is a yard offside.
Not bad for a 38-year-old.
https://vine.co/v/OmAtAeingDO
That was a record-breaking goal…
GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 Roma (Francesco Totti)
That is a beautiful finish from Franceso Totti. The evergreen Italian is slotted in and lifts the ball over Hart with the most delicate of chips.
Radja Nainggolen has a pop from distance but it’s straight at Hart. Roma playing some decent football in the middle of the park.
Former Arsenal man Gervinho rides a tackle from Kompany and very nearly gets though on goal but Hart is out to smother the ball.
Here’s the penalty incident and the goal:
https://vine.co/v/OmAwb1p7pXu
https://vine.co/v/OmAwaValpMb
That was close! Maicon and Totti play a one-two with the Brazilian defender getting in around the back of the City defence before lashing a strike off Joe Hart’s crossbar. Nearly an immediate redemption.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Roma (Sergio Aguero)
Maicon appears to pull Sergio Aguero back and concedes the penalty. Aguero strokes home with just five minutes played.
PENALTY TO MAN CITY!
We’re off here. Man City wearing all-blue while Roma are in a slick black strip. They do tend to have nice gear.
Ashley Cole returns England for in a footballing capacity the first time since his departure from Chelsea in the summer. The ex-England full-back is in Roma’s starting line-up, while his former team-mate Frank Lampard has to settle with a place on the bench for City despite scoring four goals in his last three games.
While Man City went down to Jerome Boateng’s late volley two weeks ago, Roma earned a 5-1 victory over CSKA Moscow.
Rudi Garcia’s men have also started their league campaign excellently and sit joint-top of the table with Juventus after five straight wins.
Here are the teams:
Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Navas, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.
Roma: Skorupski, Maicon, Manolas, Mapou, Cole, Pjanic, Keita, Nainggolan, Florenzi, Totti, Gervinho.
Good evening and welcome along to another evening of European football. There are seven Champions League group games up for deliberation this evening with Bayern Munich wrapping up their second victory of this season’s campaign earlier this evening with a 1-0 win away to CSKA Moscow.
Here are the rest of the fixtures:
- Manchester City v Roma
- APOEL v Ajax
- PSG v Barcelona
- Schalke v Maribor
- Sporting Lisbon v Chelsea
- BATE Borisov Athletic Bilbao
- Shakhtar Donetsk v Porto
