Manchester City surprisingly held by Aris Saloniki in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Greece-c2908
English Premier League club, Manchester City made a trip to Greece to face the Greek side, Aris Saloniki on Tuesday, the 15th of February, 2011 in the 1st leg of the Europa league round of 32. This was the first time City were facing
a Greek side in the European competition. The tie ended in a 0-0 draw.
Manchester city went into the game following a 2-1 defeat to the rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. The Premier League side came through from Group A along with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lech-Poznan-c39779. Juventus and Red bull Salzburg were the other teams in the group who did
not manage to qualify.
Aris certainly surprised many faithfuls as they qualified ahead of the last season’s Europa League holders Atletico Madrid. Rosenborg also failed to go through from group B. The other side to qualify with the Greeks was Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen.
Roberto http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mario-Balotelli-c23937 back in the lineup, while the Argentinean Carlos Tevez also traveled with the team.
The visitors got the half underway and Tevez was named in the starting XI. City did not show a lot of intent in the early stages as they looked to get hold of the conditions. The home side, on the other hand played their own game and did not pay a lot of
respect to the the Manchester side. Greek defense was strong enough and tackled every attack with confidence and superiority.
The visitors got two potential scoring chances in the 9th and 15th minute, but both; http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michalis-Sifakis-c25449. The home team got a glorious opportunity to go ahead in the closing
stages of the 1st half when the City goalkeeper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Joe-Hart-c18699 was found handling the ball outside the area. The smashing effort from the midfielder Neto went a whisker wide of the post.
The second half saw a bit more intensity from the visitors as they pushed to get an all important away goal. The Greeks on the other hand clearly adapted the tactics of frustrating the English side and keep them abay. Aris’s resistance almost broke when
Dzeko’s flying header was acrobatically saved by Sifakis on the 63rd minute mark.
The home team went through a purple patch between the 64-69 minutes mark as City presumably went asleep. But it did not result in any sort of a break through.
Edin Dzeko was the only player in the match to get booked on the 76th minute mark. Inspite of continuous pressure in the 2nd half from the visitors, both teams were equal on the day; the home team got the more satisfying result though.
The Greeks will now travel to the City of Manchester to decide who goes through to the next round. Even a 1-1 draw in the 2nd leg will take Aris through on away goal basis.
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