Europa League: Lech Poznan v Manchester City full time report
Lech Poznan 3 Manchester City 1
Manchester City conceded twice in the final few minutes to throw away a point against Lech Poznan.
Dimitrije Injac gave Lech Poznan the lead in the first half after a great strike on 30 minutes, who hit his shot instantly and with such precision. The clearing header from City was poor on their behalf.
Emmanuel Adebayor five minutes into the second half equalised for City. His header was initially saved, but he reacted to the rebound to fire in the shot.
Manuel Arboleda put Lech Poznan back in the lead five minutes from time, although he knew nothing about it. As the ball from the free kick came in, Dedryck Boyatta headed the ball onto the back of Arboleda.
In stoppage time, Mateusz Mozdzen scored the best goal of the night after hammering the shot from at least 25 yards to make the score 3-1 and give his side a well-deserved three points.
City boss Roberto Mancini was under pressure to deliver a result following two straight defeats, but now the Italian will face more questions from the media as two became three.
City would have wanted to start the game in a positive fashion to quash the stories of rifts in the team, and they did. Milner was on the end of a great run by Johnson down the left hand side. Johnson managed to find a way into the box to pick out Milner, but his shot was blocked.
The man at the centre of the rifts within the team Emmanuel Adebayor had most of the early chances City created. His fired in a hat-trick in the first meeting between the sides at Eastlands a fortnight ago, and he was looking likely to break the deadlock. His shot was brilliantly tipped over by Lech Poznan ‘keeper Jasmin Buric.
Adebayor was then denied two more chances to score, but Boyatta should have put his side in front if he got his header right. His chance came off the back of a chaotic moment, where the ball was bouncing around all over the place in the box as Patrick Vieira kept on plugging away to unlock the defence.
From what we had seen so far, you would have thought City would take the lead, but it was the home side who snatched the lead. They had a couple of chances before through Slawomir Peszko’s free kick and Semir Stelic’s strike, but it would be Injac taking the credit for the opening goal.
After coming onto the end of the ball poorly cleared by the City defence, Injac hit the shot first time which found its way into the bottom left corner and out of City ‘keeper Shay Given’s reach. It was what Lech Poznan deserved after coming into the game midway through the first half.
City began the second half the way they did the first, and after a succession of corners, they were on level terms. Adebayor smashed his shot after his header was first saved by Buric from the corner. It was the Togolese striker’s fifth goal in his last four appearances for City.
Jacek Kielb for Lech Poznan had a right footed shot from outside the area that saw Given scrambling across his goal. David Silva, on as a half time substitute for City, hit the bar after great work from Adebayor down the left. The goal scorer was the only player forward, and after getting into the box, he picked out Silva, and the Spaniard hit his shot into the ground which bounced high and onto the cross bar.
City continued to defend poorly and looked nervous at the back as Lech Poznan posed a threat every time they went forward. Mancini knew this was a problem as he threw on Vincent Kompany into a holding midfield position to give some much-needed protection for the defence.
Lech Poznan appointed Jose Maria Bakero only this week, and the former Barcelona midfielder would have been pleased with the way his side played. He would have been even more pleased when his side scored twice in the final few minutes, with a fortunate goal from Arboleda and a wonder strike from Mozdzen.
City have a lot to think about and so does Mancini, who will not have been pleased with the way the match went tonight.
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