Sergio Aguero to Manchester City's rescue with hat-trick
Manchester City were on the ropes.
Until five minutes before the end, 10-man Bayern Munich were 2-1 ahead.
But then Sergio Aguero emerged as the knight in shining armour, completing his hat-trick to help the Citizens to a 3-2 home win over Bayern Munich in their penultimate Champions League group game this morning (Singapore time).
This is City's first win in Europe this season.
They now face a three-way fight with CSKA Moscow and Roma for the second qualifying spot in Group E. All three teams are tied on five points, with Bayern already assured of first place.
City will play Roma away in their final group fixture in a fortnight's time.
Bayern had a grip on the early proceedings at the Etihad Stadium and came close to taking the lead.
In the ninth minute, Arjen Robben split the City defence apart with a clever clip of the ball. But goalkeeper Joe Hart was alert to the danger, rushing out to block Sebastian Rode's shot from close range.
In the 20th minute, it was Eliaquim Mangala's turn to come to the hosts' rescue, as he blocked a fierce shot by Rafinha.
But just as Bayern were tightening their grip on the game, City got a big break.
A long ball down the middle caught Bayern off-guard. In desperation, Medhi Benatia brought down Sergio Aguero in the penalty box.
The referee dismissed Benatia and awarded to City a penalty, which Aguero converted to give City the lead.
Yet, Bayern, who still had about 70 minutes of the game to see through, didn't appear handicapped by the numerical disadvantage.
In fact, they roared back, against the odds.
Five minutes before the break, the visitors equalised via a Xabi Alonso free-kick.
City barely had time to recover from the shock when Pep Guardiola's men struck again to go 2-1 ahead on the stroke of half-time. Striker Robert Lewandowski sneaked in between two defenders and headed the ball into the net.
City were rattled. They emerged after the interval looking out of sorts, and 10-man Bayern even began to assert themselves.
It seemed City were going to extend their win-less streak in Europe to seven games. Then Aguero sprung to life.
Five minutes from time, Xabi Alonso lost the ball in midfield, and Aguero raced clear before calmly slotting the ball into the bottom corner.
In injury time, the Argentinian struck once more, again profiting from another Bayern error.
He nicked the ball off defender Jerome Boateng, and finished Bayern off with a low shot .
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