Manchester City dropped their first Champions League points of the season as they were held to a 0-0 stalemate with FC Copenhagen at the Parken Stadium on Tuesday.
City were made to play with 10 men for much of the affair after Sergio Gomez was shown a red card 30 minutes in. The Premier League champions struggled to assert dominance over their opposition as a result, and failed to score for the first time this season, with in-form striker Erling Haaland on the bench for the entirety of the match.
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“Many players didn’t start today because they were exhausted and tired and fatigued and [had] niggles,” City coach Pep Guardiola said. “Erling didn’t feel really good after the game against Southampton, Phil [Foden] had some disturbing problems, Bernardo [Silva] told us yesterday he was so tired.
“We adapted really well [to the red card]. They are too good. We’re close [to qualifying]. It’s a good point.”
An eventful first half was swamped with VAR controversy, firstly as Rodri‘s piledriver was ruled out for an adjudged handball in the build-up by Riyad Mahrez.
The Spanish midfielder looked to have given City the lead 11 minutes in after thumping a 25-yard strike past Kamil Grabara — but a VAR check found that the ball took a slight touch on the hand of Mahrez as he battled between defenders for an aerial ball.
And Mahrez was at the centre of the drama again in the 25th minute as he saw his penalty saved by Grabara after Nicolai Boilesen was penalised for handball following a VAR review.
Just five minutes later, Gomez, 22, halted a Copenhagen attack by committing a foul on the edge of the area and, after a virtual check, was shown a straight red card for his challenge — forcing Guardiola to bring on defensive reinforcement Ruben Dias in place of Mahrez.
Uncharacteristically for a City match, the affair slumped into a low-quality matchup for much of the second half, with City’s man disadvantage lulling them into a slower-than-usual tempo despite the raucous atmosphere.
