Manchester City 3-2 Leeds United: Visitors work hard to come back but are beaten in stoppage time
Manchester City had lost two in a row before welcoming Leeds to the Etihad, so Pep Guardiola really could not countenance a negative result. But after a first half in which City took a comfortable 2-0 lead, they ended up having to work their socks off for a victory, after a resurgent Leeds United side came back out of the tunnel guns blazing.
Phil Foden had fired City ahead in just the second minute of proceedings with a shot that cannoned in off the crossbar. Josko Gvardiol doubled the lead in the 25th minute, pouncing on a mistake from Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri during a corner to poke home.
Leeds were skittish and barely showed any semblance of a threat. But in the second half the game turned.
Matheus Nunes and Gvardiol could not sort out who was closing the ball down and who was standing off, allowing Dominic Calvert-Lewin to run through and halve City’s lead just four minutes in. It fired up Leeds’ spirits.
They began to press City unceasingly. Guardiola’s side began to make mistakes. Calvert-Lewin was a huge threat up front and they continually searched for him with long balls.
On one occasion he pulled off an impressive turn to evade Nunes and draw a booking. On another, he chased down a golden opportunity in the box but Gvardiol closed him down. However, the nervy Croat clattered into him, completely missing the ball and then belatedly trying to scoop it away. The referee was not deceived and pointed to the spot.
Lukas Nmecha’s penalty was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma, but the German forward was fortunate to have it drop back to him. He fired Leeds level on the rebound.
Haaland was a spectator for much of the game, and Doku’s usual magic was lacking. His dribbling was cartoonish for much of the game and he kept bumping into Leeds players while attempting to evade them, like a middle-aged man trying out contacts.
Stoppage time came and it looked like Leeds might walk away with a hard-earned point. But then Foden had his say. Collecting the ball at the edge of the box, in that central area he evidently enjoys, he drifted left and then slammed the ball beyond Perri to crush the visitors’ spirits.
