Joe Hart saves and saves, but last-gasp Boateng goal hands Bayern win over City
For 89 minutes, Manchester City held out in the Allianz Arena.
It was the 90th minute that proved critical. Jerome Boateng’s late strike, crashed home against his former employers, was enough to give Bayern Munich a deserved victory.
Bayern Munich's Jerome Boateng (not pictured) scores a goal past Manchester City's goalkeeper Joe Hart. Picture: Reuters
Poor Joe Hart. The England goalkeeper gave a heroic performance, but he just couldn’t hold out until the end.
City, with Ruben Cousillas in the dugout for the suspended Manuel Pellegrino, were left with plenty to ponder on the flight home. Had it not been for their goalkeeper, this might have been embarrassing.
Bayern could have taken the lead inside the first minute when Thomas Muller, released by Mario Goetze, rounded Hart, but scuffed the ball into the side netting. The German forward punched the turf in frustration, furious with either the referee for missing Hart’s contact on his leg, or with himself for not making the most of it and going to ground. It was not the last time that Hart would frustrate Bayern.
While City settled and tried to keep the ball, Bayern didn’t give up easily and Muller was denied again on 19 minutes, this time by a fine one-handed save from Hart.
Sixty seconds later, Hart pushed Goetze’s close range effort away.
On half an hour, David Alaba was the victim with Hart’s reactions again proving crucial.
The saves kept coming.
For their part, City used the ball smartly when they had it, and certainly weren’t as poor as Arsenal the night before, but they found it hard to create clear cut chances.
They were not aided by a shockingly poor performance from Yaya Toure or when the referee failed to award a late penalty when David Silva was felled in the box.
The last action of the game looked to have been a full length Hart save from a Boateng long range effort, but just moments later, the former City man had another sight of goal.
This time, he made no mistake.
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