Man City’s dramatic elimination

Manchester City have been eliminated from the Europa League in dramatic fashion, after they beat Sporting Lisbon 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night but lost the tie on away goals.

In a sluggish first-half display by the hosts, Matias Fernandez put the visitors into the lead and doubled City’s task at hand, before Ricky van Wolfswinkel made it 2-0 on the night to the Portuguese team at the interval.

City fought back valiantly in the second period and ended up winning the match, as a Sergio Aguero brace and a Mario Balotelli strike put them within touching distance of the tournament’s quarter-finals; however a winning goal could not be found.

Roberto Mancini admitted after the game that he was frustrated with Balotelli for conceding a free-kick that led to Sporting’s opener, but shouldered the blame personally for the defeat.

“I was disappointed with him because he conceded the free-kick,” the Italian told ESPN.

“It is not his fault that we lost this game. I am the manager and it is my fault, not Mario’s fault. The players did everything on the pitch.

“The first half was very strange. We left a lot of space for them to counter attack. We didn’t play as a team in the first half.

“We didn’t do a good job in the first half, we conceded two goals. The second half changed everything, we scored three goals and had chances to score a fourth goal.

“I am disappointed because there were mistakes. I feel sorry for our supporters because they deserved to go to the next stage,” he confessed.

City will need to bounce back quickly, as they take on Chelsea in the Premier League on Monday night.