Manchester City Comes Back to Beat Schalke, 2-3

Sergio Aguero with Manchester City in 2018
Sergio Aguero with Manchester City in 2018. Photo by Matt West/BPI/REX/Shutterstock (9960249w)

Manchester City’s Champions League knockout round experience in 2019 got off to a bit of an unexpected start on Wednesday evening.

Pep Guardiola’s squad was expected to dominate against Schalke 04, which is currently in 14th place in Germany’s Bundesliga.

However, Man City had to survive a bit of a scare before a late comeback led them to a 2-3 win at VELTINS-Arena on Wednesday night.

City got off to a quick start in the game after Sergio Agüero took advantage of goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann’s error. He intercepted a lazy pass and buried the shot, putting city up 0-1 in the 18th minute.

The first half ended terribly for City, however, as Schalke was awarded 2 penalties in the final minutes of the half after a Nicolas Otamendi handball and a Fernandinho foul in the box. Schalke’s Nabil Bentaleb converted the two penalties to put Schalke up 2-1.

Things got worse for Man City in the 68th minute after Otamendi was sent off after a second yellow card.

Miraculously, however, City scored two goals in the final minutes of the game to escape with a win. Leroy Sane scored a brilliant free kick to tie the game at 2 in the 85th minute, and then forward Raheem Sterling scored a goal in extra time to give City the win.

The second leg of the draw will take place in March in Manchester.