No excuses for City collapse

MANCHESTER City are on the brink of Champions League elimination after having two men sent off as they lost to CSKA Moscow.

Fernandinho and Yaya Toure were both dismissed as City crumbled, losing 2–1 on a miserable night at the Etihad Stadium.

The result left them bottom of Group ‘E’ with two points from four games. City will leave the competition if they fail to beat Bayern Munich and the game between CSKA and Roma is not a draw.

City were stunned in the second minute as Seydou Doumbia headed the opener. Toure curled in a superb free–kick to equalise soon afterwards, but Doumbia capitalised on poor defending to restore the Russians’ lead before the break.

City lacked spark and their hopes of a fightback evaporated as Fernandinho and Toure saw red in the second half.

City boss Manuel Pellegrini said: “It is difficult to understand why we played so low a performance. We are in a bad moment, but we have to work out why there is a lack of trust with the players.”