Gvardiol cancels out Mahrez opener to leave Manchester City and Leipzig level

Nottingham Forest could be dismissed as a blip. This was an altogether more worrying display from Manchester City, who again huffed and heaved but somehow seemed to look less coherent as the game went on. For 45 minutes they simply toyed with their hosts, scoring through Riyad Mahrez and giving the distinct impression that they could raise the tempo whenever they wanted.

Instead the ignition came from Leipzig, so wan and timid in the first half, but a changed proposition in recent months under their new coach Marco Rose. Roared on by a deafening home crowd, they deservedly equalised through Josip Gvardiol, had chances enough to win it, and by the end were thoroughly dominating one of the best teams in the world.

And so a tantalising second leg awaits at the Etihad in three weeks, time enough for Pep Guardiola to solve some of the lingering issues beginning to set in. The back four doesn’t quite seem to work right now, and has now gone five games without a clean sheet. Erling Haaland missed one good chance but the overarching problem was that City were so rarely able to get the ball to him. Even Guardiola, whose initial gameplan had succeeded so resoundingly, looked frozen as his side ceded the advantage, keeping a jaded-looking first XI on the pitch while Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez grimaced on the bench.

With Kevin De Bruyne out through illness, Guardiola deployed the system he normally uses in these situations: Kyle Walker pushed high to provide width and crosses, Mahrez tucked in a little, Bernardo Silva deeper to provide control alongside Rodri. Ilkay Gündogan – captain here – pushed up very high, almost as a second striker, almost certainly an attempt by Guardiola to pin back the dangerous Leipzig midfield.

Above