Manchester City require a minor miracle to qualify for the knockout stage after a wretched night for the Premier League champions saw them lose 1-2 to CSKA Moscow.
Having picked up just two points from their opening three matches, City suffered exactly the kind of calamitous start they were looking to avoid when Stevan Jovetic gave possession away facing his goal and CSKA won a free-kick from the ensuing attack as Gaël Clichy was judged to have handled the ball.
Bebras Natcho scored the late equaliser when the sides met in Moscow a fortnight ago and this time he turned creator as his delivery was met by Seydou Doumbia, who lost a slumbering Touré to head past Joe Hart.
A stunned silence hit the Etihad Stadium though to City’s credit they instantly hit back as Jovetic and Touré each found a kind of redemption. The Montenegrin surged at the heart of the visitors’ defence and was fouled so City now had their own free-kick. It was positioned more central than CSKA’s had been and Touré stepped up to curl a beauty past Igor Akinfeev to make it 1-1.
The Ivorian previously scored in the competition away at Viktoria Plzen last season. His continuing under-performance in the Champions League has become an unwanted trope of the club’s fortunes in the competition and while Touré may have punched the air in celebration he was soon back to disappointing, giving the ball away near the centre spot with a stray pass.
The gauge of Pellegrini’s anxiousness could be found in him taking up near-permanent residence in the technical area throughout the opening half and in the unusual body language. Before Touré’s equaliser the Chilean had rocked on his heels in anguish when Jesús Navas was clear but could only blast over.
City’s defence has become a serious weakness of late and was targeted by CSKA in Moscow to good effect. Pellegrini has been doing extra work trying to shore the rearguard up but, again, CSKA were able to punch holes in it at will.
On one occasion Doumbia raced into yards of space to leave a puffing Kompany playing catch-up. The captain failed and Doumbia really should have given his side the lead again rather than miss to Hart’s right, though before the half was over he would find the net again.
As was the case in Sunday’s derby, City lacked poise, rhythm and panache. In Clichy they also had a left-back enduring a nightmare. His ceding of the ball to Natcho in the build-up for CSKA’s second was hardly the first time the Frenchman had done so and from this juncture it was once more too simple for the Russian champions. Natcho slipped the ball to Doumbia on his left and he slid home confidently past Hart.
City had boos aimed at them from an understandably disgruntled support as they wandered off at the break. By any measure this was just not good enough and Pellegrini, who had named the same XI as against Manchester United, made his move at the start of the second period. On came Samir Nasri for Navas and Fernandinho for Jovetic, with the latter a decision designed to release Touré.
First of all, though, possession of the ball was required. The way Ahmed Musa moved along the right early on to leave the hapless Clichy and Martín Demichelis flailing suggested this might be tricky.
The unpalatable truth facing them was that the champions of England continued to resemble a rabble who were living on the hope of reviving their fortunes and little else.
The least expected of elite footballers is to keep on trying and as the hour passed City were plugging away. A first clear chance for Pellegrini’s team arrived at last when Milner skimmed the ball across the turf from the left towards Sergio Agüero but the latter could not connect.
Pellergrini was in last-chance saloon territory and his final throw of the die was to pull off Fernando for Edin Dzeko for the closing 25 minutes.
Yet the sense this was becoming a debacle deepened when Fernandinho received his marching orders on 70 minutes to leave City with only 10 men before Touré’s sending off for shoving Roman Eremenko to the ground.
Meanwhile, Eden Hazard had a late penalty saved as Chelsea missed a chance to advance from Group G in the Champions League on Wednesday, drawing 1-1 with Maribor.
Unrecognizable from the side that was crushed 6-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago, Maribor took a deserved lead in the 50th minute when Agim Ibraimi’s superb curling shot beat Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal.
Chelsea, which leads the group with eight points, equalized in the 73rd minute through Nemanja Matic who latched onto a John Terry header to score from close range.
Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho felt his side had become complacent in what many expected would be another straightforward victory over the Slovenians.
“Many times surprises happen when people are not fully focused, when they believe the game can’t be a difficult one,” Mourinho said. “Only when Maribor scored did the players realize the game was in danger. After that, a fantastic reaction. We deserved to win, clearly.”
Mourinho reacted to a poor first-half showing by his side at the Stadion Ljudski vrt by making a double substitution at halftime, introducing striker Diego Costa and Oscar.
Luka Zahovic missed a fine chance to double the advantage and enhance Maribor’s claims of inflicting Chelsea’s first defeat of the season, before Matic’s effort 17 minutes from time saved the Blues’ blushes.
Maribor goalkeeper Jasmin Handanovic saved well from Hazard and Costa, who had the ball in the net after 79 minutes, only for the strike to be ruled out for offside.
The decision by Italian referee Daniele Orsato was criticized by the Chelsea coach.
“We scored two goals, two very good goals. The second goal, the referee decided to disallow but it’s a clear goal,” Mourinho said.
“We didn’t reach the number of goals that we should have in the second half, but the team played well… And the referee’s team did not have a good night.”
Hazard was fouled for the 85th-minute spot-kick, but the Belgian’s effort was too central and Handanovic saved.
Maribor remains rooted to the bottom of the group with three points. Schalke is second on five points, one more than Sporting in third.
