Man City throw away three-goal lead in embarrassing Feyenoord collapse as crisis escalates
MAN CITY 3-3 FEYENOORD: Erling Haaland's record-breaking scoring rate looked set to secure a comfortable win only for Pep Guardiola's men only to collapse in an surprising collapse
by David McDonnell · The MirrorThe losing run may have ended – but the questions remain for Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players after this astonishing collapse.
From 3-0 up, City contrived to throw away victory with self-inflicted mistakes, three goals conceded in 14 minutes underlining the scale of the ongoing crisis facing Guardiola. Calamitous defending allowed Feyenoord a way back into a game that should have been beyond them, but Guardiola's side proved obliging opponents with their late implosion.
Guardiola had a cut on his nose and joked aferwards that he wanted to harm himself after revealing he inflicted the wound with one of his fingernails. On the pitch, his players shared that propensity for self-harm, with catastrophic consequences.
City travel to Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday, where a repeat of such mistakes will be punished ruthlessly, with Arne Slot's side relishing the chance to inflict further misery on the struggling champions, who are in the midst of a full-blown crisis.
This result also puts in serious jeopardy City's hopes of finishing in the top eight of the Champions League table and qualifying automatically for the knockout phase. In 14 chaotic minutes, City conceded three times to plummet from fifth place in the table to 15th, with their next two European games away to Juventus and Paris St Germain.
In all likelihood, City will need to win their three remaining games – the final one at home to Bruges – to ensure they avoid being involved in a play-off tie to make the next stage. Seven points from the final three games could see City sneak into the top eight, but a full return of nine is likely to be needed to confirm their place in the automatic qualification positions.
City were cruising to a much-needed, morale-boosting victory, courtesy of a double from star striker Erling Haaland and a goal from Ilkay Gundogan, with seemingly no way back for the fourth-placed side in the Dutch league.
But a mistake from Josko Gvardiol allowed Feyenoord to score what appeared to be little more than a consolation goal. More defensive chaos, seven minutes later, saw the visitors score again, leaving City fans fearing another horror show at home, after Saturday's 4-0 mauling to Spurs.
Those fears were well-founded and confirmed when City conceded a third goal in the 89th minute, after more slapstick defending from Guardiola's side, whose minds were scrambled. Feyenoord always looked threatening, even when they went behind and the game seemed beyond them, Brian Priske's side deserving huge credit for refusing to accept they were beaten.
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Haaland put City ahead a minute before half-time, converting from the penalty spot after he was adjudged to have been fouled to win what was unquestionably a fortuitous spot-kick. City doubled their lead five minutes after the restart, a volley from Ilkay Gundogan taking a deflection off David Hancko, leaving Feyenoord goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther no chance.
Haaland made it 3-0 two minutes later, sliding to turn the ball into the net from a Matheus Nunes cross, who was set scampering down the right by Gundogan. Gvardiol's sloppy back-pass allowed Anis Hadj Moussa to pull a goal back, then the nerves were further shredded when sub Santiago Gimenez chested the ball in from close range.
Feyenoord completed the miracle comeback in the 89th minute when Paixao got to the ball ahead of the advancing Ederson and crossed for Hancko to head into the empty net. There was no show of anger from Guardioa, who simply scratched his head, incredulous at how his side had folded at home for the second time in four days.
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