Guardiola 'really satisfied' with draw at Copenhagen as Man City turn focus to Liverpool
City advance to Champions League last 16 after a stalemate in Denmark having played an hour with 10 men
Manchester City's Spanish defender Sergio Gomez (L) is shown a red card by the referee Portuguese Referee Artur Dias during the UEFA Champions League 1st round day 4 group G football match FC Copenhagen vs Manchester City in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 11, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP)
Manchester City's Rodri scores a goal that was later disallowed by VAR for handball. Action Images
Manchester City's Rodri, right, celebrates scoring a goal that was disallowed by VAR. PA
Manchester City players celebrate a goal by Rodri that was later ruled out. EPA
Referee Artur Soraes Dias carries out a VAR check before disallowing Rodri's goal for Manchester City. PA
Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez takes a penalty that is saved by FC Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara. Action Images
FC Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara saves a penalty from Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez. Action Images
Manchester City's Phil Foden comes on as a substitute to replace Jack Grealish. Action Images
Manchester City's Erling Haaland warming up. PA
Manchester City's Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden warm up on the touchline. AP
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson makes a save from FC Copenhagen's Isak Bergmann Johannesson. EPA
Kevin de Bruyne of Manchester City controls the ball. Getty
Nicolai Boilesen of FC Copenhagen is challenged by Kevin de Bruyne of Manchester City. Getty
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. AFP
Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne shoots. Action Images
FC Copenhagen's Hakon Arnar Haraldsson battles with Manchester City's Sergio Gomez. PA
Manchester City's Julian Alvarez, left, and FC Copenhagen's Nicolai Boilesen, centre, vie for the ball. AP
Manchester City's Jack Grealish, right, controls the ball. AP
Manchester City's Julian Alvarez shoots. PA
FC Copenhagen defender Elias Jelert shepherds Manchester City's Jack Grealish. AFP
FC Copenhagen's Viktor Claesson in action with Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne. Action Images
FC Copenhagen defender Valdemar Lund Jensen, left, attempts to tackle Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez. AFP
Manchester City's Manuel Akanji rises to make a headed clearance. AFP
FC Copenhagen's Nicolai Boilesen grapples with Manchester City's Kevin de Bruyne. AFP
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he was "really satisfied" after his side earned a point away at FC Copenhagen on Tuesday having played an hour of the Champions League match with 10 men.
Following last week's 5-0 win over the Danish club at the Etihad, City were expected to ease to another victory but it proved a frustrating evening, dominated by VAR, for the Premier League champions.
Rodri had a brilliant long-range strike disallowed after VAR spotted a handball by Riyad Mahrez in the build-up, and the review system again intervened to award City a penalty, only for Mahrez's effort to be saved by Kamil Grabara.
VAR was then called into action to confirm a red card for City left-back Sergio Gomez in the 30th minute for pulling back Hakon Arnar Haraldsson as the last man, harming the visitors attacking ambitions at the Parken Stadium.
In the end, City had to settle for a goalless draw as Copenhagen became the first team to stop Guardiola's side from scoring this season. Still, the point was enough for City to progress to the last 16 after Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla played out a 1-1 draw later in the evening.
“Really satisfied – playing one hour 10 v 11 in Europe and not losing is really good,” Guardiola said. “We are going to recover, prepare for the next games, go to Dortmund and try to get results there and against Sevilla, to finish first in the group stage.
“After the situations – goal disallowed, penalties, sending off – the game changed and especially playing 10 against 11 for an hour is so difficult but we didn't concede much. The players gave absolutely everything – it’s a good point and we take it.”
Before returning to Champions League duty later this month, City have two Premier League games to focus on, including Sunday's trip to Liverpool for a clash between, until this season, the two best teams in England.
Copenhagen v Man City player ratings
FC COPENHAGEN RATINGS: Kamil Grabara - 8, Made a good save to deny Julian Alvarez’s early attempt, then did even better to stop Riyad Mahrez’s penalty. Palmed away Kevin De Bruyne’s curling effort and dealt with Joao Cancelo’s shot well.
Action Images
Valdemar Lund Jensen - 7, While he was booked for a cynical foul on De Bruyne, he put in a lot of solid defensive work with the tone being set by an early challenge on Mahrez. Played some good passes forward.
EPA
Davit Khocholava - 8, Made some vital interventions, including deflecting De Bruyne’s shot wide, and was often on hand to double up to stop City’s attackers. Was perhaps lucky not to be shown a yellow card for persistent fouling.
PA
Nicolai Boilesen - 6, Was saved by Grabara after handling the ball in the box but made some great interceptions after that. Did brilliantly to head away De Bruyne’s cross.
EPA
Elias Jelert - 8, Hit Jack Grealish with a late tackle in the opening minutes and continued that intensity while adding some finesse to defend superbly. Did well to set up Lukas Lerager for his shot.
Getty
Marko Stamenic - 6, Pressed superbly at times to make things awkward for City. Stupidly got himself booked for dissent, meaning he’ll miss the next match, but almost found the bottom corner with an ambitious late strike.
AFP
Lukas Lerager - 6, Had a nice shot touched over by Ederson and made a good run forward but couldn’t keep his feet under pressure from Rodrigo.
Action Images
Victor Kristiansen - 8, Put in lots of good defensive work, notably heading away Joao Cancelo’s cross, and he also made some promising forays forward. Came within inches of finding Isak Bergmann Johannesson with a cross.
AFP
Viktor Claesson - 6, Put in plenty of effort throughout despite being hit by a heavy challenge from Sergio Gomez. Came close to reaching Jelert’s cross.
Action Images
Hakon Arnar Haraldsson - 6, Showed plenty of confidence and intelligence to cause problems for City’s backline in the first half, with his corner delivery troubling Ederson and his run forcing Gomez into the challenge that got him sent off. His shooting wasn’t the best.
AP
Mohamed Daramy - 6, Showed plenty of promise and intent with his bursts forward, including one to beat Cancelo. Couldn’t quite turn that into goalscoring opportunities with Ruben Dias clearing his cross.
EPA
SUBS: Isak Bergmann Johannesson (Haraldsson, 60’) - 5, Took a big hit from Aymeric Laporte and failed to capitalise when Ruben Dias’ pass fell to him, was then unable to reach Kristiansen’s cross. EPA
Kevin Diks (Khocholava, 80’) – N/R, Was comfortable on the ball and defended well to help Copenhagen earn a clean sheet.
Paul Mukairu (Stamenic, 93’) – N/R, Came on for the final seconds as Copenhagen saw out the draw.
EPA
MANCHESTER CITY RATINGS: Ederson - 6, Wasn’t at his best with his feet but did well to deal with Lerager’s shot and Haraldsson’s corner delivery. Action Images
Joao Cancelo - 6, Got forward well at times and delivered a good cross that was impressively cleared. Was troubled by Daramy at times. Forced a save from the goalkeeper with a venomous strike. AFP
Manuel Akanji - 7, Put pressure on Boilesen for the penalty incident and did well defensively whether he was in the middle or on the right. Made a great defensive header from a corner and an impressive challenge on Kristiansen.
EPA
Aymeric Laporte - 6, Looked comfortable in tough situations, notably forcing Haraldsson to strike wide shortly before half time. Did well to avoid a mix up with Ederson.
Action Images
Sergio Gomez - 3, Got himself sent off inside the opening half an hour for pulling back Haraldsson and denying a goalscoring opportunity.
Action Images
Ilkay Gundogan - 6, Moved the ball well in midfield but sent a wild effort off target when the opportunity arose to shoot. His late strike was comfortably dealt with by Grabara.
Reuters
Rodri - 6, Was incredibly unlucky to have his goal disallowed and will be even more disappointed after leaning back for his next strike. Some of his passing was a bit off but the Spaniard made some important defensive interventions.
PA
Kevin De Bruyne - 6, Showed his ability but Copenhagen did brilliantly to challenge the Belgian, with some of his potentially dangerous shots being deflected wide. Also had a curling shot palmed away and drilled the ball into the side netting from a tight angle.
AFP
Riyad Mahrez - 3, It really wasn’t his day. After he was deemed to have handled the ball in the build-up to Rodrigo’s disallowed goal, the Algeria international saw his unconvincing penalty saved before being substituted when Gomez was sent off.
AFP
Julian Alvarez - 6, Had an early shot touched wide and nicely laid the ball off to Rodrigo for the disallowed goal but then hit a tame shot from range. Did well to create the opening for De Bruyne’s deflected shot. Couldn’t get his late header on target.
AP
Jack Grealish - 5, Had some nice moments including a backheel to Cancelo but struggled to truly threaten as he was left frustrated by Khocholava. Made a great tackle in his own box.
AFP
SUBS: Ruben Dias (Mahrez, 32’) - 6, Showed authority in his first-half play and made a vital stop to clear Daramy’s cross. Couldn’t get his header on target. Got away with a terrible clearance and was booked for a late tackle on Lerager.
Getty
Bernardo Silva (De Bruyne, 77’) – N/R, Moved the ball well but didn’t do too much to create meaningful opportunities. AFP
Phil Foden (Grealish, 78’) – N/R, Was neat in his play and delivered a decent corner kick that Alvarez couldn’t guide on target.
Nathan Ake (Laporte, 88’) – N/R, Confidently nodded the ball back to Ederson under pressure. PA
While City appear in good shape to defend their title, sitting one point behind leaders Arsenal, Liverpool have endured a disappointing start to the season and languish down in 10th, 13 points behind the champions.
Having played the early game on Tuesday, City returned to Manchester the same evening, and Guardiola said the next few days would be about resting and recovering. One notable absence from City's team in Copenhagen was Erling Haaland, who was on the bench for the first time, with Guardiola surely having one eye on Sunday's match against Liverpool after admitting the Norwegian striker wasn't in the best shape to play.
“Yesterday was not good, today a little better but not perfect, so we decide not to take the risk,” Guardiola said of Haaland.
“We travel right now, tomorrow regeneration, one day off to clean our mind because for two weeks we didn't have one day off. And then we have a few days to prepare for the game against Liverpool.”