Pep Guardiola looked almost in disbelief after watching Manchester City throw away a 3-0 lead against Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League.
The Premier League champions looked to be cruising to three points as two goals from record-breaking Erling Haaland and one from Ilkay Gundogan put them in control at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola had never before seen his team fail to win after being three goals up across 942 games as a coach, according to Opta data.
City have looked suspect in recent weeks during a five-match losing run across all competitions, their 4-0 home loss to Tottenham in the league last weekend coming as a huge shock to Guardiola and his players, but their second-half collapse against Feyenoord was truly concerning.
Anis Hadj-Moussa pulled a goal back on 75 minutes following an error from Josko Gvardiol before Santiago Gimenez, on as a substitute, got the visitors’ second seven minutes later. The build-up began with another poor piece of play from Gvardiol, whose pass led to Feyenoord turning over possession.
Then, in the final minute of the initial 90, David Hancko’s controlled header at the far post sent the travelling fans into delirium.
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Guardiola had his head in his hands as he watched on after the first Feyenoord goal, and his reactions around the second and third showed his continued astonishment at the nature of his side’s sixth consecutive match without a win.
During television interviews after the game, the Catalan coach appeared to have marks on his own head caused by his fingernails.
Remarkably, this was the first time in Champions League history that a team has failed to win a match after leading 3-0 as late as the 75th minute, according to Opta. It also means City have conceded at least two goals in six consecutive games for the first time since 1963 — a year in which they were relegated from England’s top division.
75 – Manchester City are the first team in UEFA Champions League history to be leading a match by three goals as late as the 75th minute and fail to go on to win. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/QFkxrMUEbN
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 26, 2024
“That will feel like a defeat,” said former City boss Stuart Pearce on Amazon Prime after the match. “Quite incredible.”
“You win games and you lose games in both boxes,” said ex-City man Gael Clichy. “Two of the goals were from mistakes by City. The worrying part is that you cannot keep continuing making individual mistakes. You can do as much as you want, but if your players are failing on individual situations, things like tonight happen.”
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