Manchester City qualified for the knockouts as they produced one of the goalless football scores of the midweek action in the Champions League. At a boisterous Parken Stadium in Denmark, referee Artur Dias frequently visited the pitchside monitor and disallowed a goal for Rodri as well. Even if the draw kept City’s spot in the Champions League’s round of 16 for another season because Sevilla later fell short against Borussia Dortmund, it was hardly a memorable evening.
It was amazing that the Group G match went scoreless after the first half’s big talking topics. However, City was not at their best and Copenhagen taxed them far more than in last week’s 5-0 thumping in Manchester since the prolific Haaland was sitting on the bench for the first time this season. After only four minutes, goalkeeper Ederson experienced a heart-in-mouth moment when he mishandled a backpass and allowed a corner. He looked to believe for a brief while that the ball was heading in his direction.
After 11 minutes, Rodri’s accurate strike from outside the area into the top corner gave City the impression that they had grabbed the lead. But in a move that would come to be a recurring motif, the Portuguese referee was encouraged to take another look. Much to City’s consternation, he ruled out the strike for handball against Riyad Mahrez in the build-up.
Soon after, though, referee Dias’ decision to award City a penalty after yet another review gave Mahrez the impression that he would benefit from the VAR’s intervention. The referee determined that Manuel Akanji’s header toward the goal was handled by Nicolai Boilesen, but Mahrez was unable to capitalize when Kamil Grabara saved his penalty kick. When Gomez and Hakon Haraldsson got into a fight on the area’s edge, there was further drama at the opposite end. Dias first permitted play to continue but then opted to dismiss the City left-back after reviewing the video.
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