Champions League: Monaco oust Guardiola's men on away goal advantage

Watching the second leg of the Champions League last 16 tie between Manchester City and AS Monaco was nothing short of a roller coaster ride as Monaco came back from a two-goal deficit (lost 3-5 in the first leg) to beat Guardiola's Citizens 3-1 at the Stade Louis II last night.

Away from home (in the first leg) at the Etihad Stadium, Monaco had registered three important away goals even as Manchester City had pipped them for a 5-3 win.

Monaco were without their star man Radamel Falcao in the second leg due to an injury but the French side showed no signs of missing him even as he watched his team come out victorious from the stands.

Monaco went all out at City from the first whistle making darting runs in the City half while the English side kept trying to soak the initial pressure. As expected, Kylian Mbappe was the prickiest thorn in City's way as his presence and positioning gave City early jitters.

Despite the fact that City were to defend a 2-goal lead, Pep Guardiola had fielded only Fernandinho as the defensive midfielder in the starting XI and that strategy failed the team. City's defence seemed to be in shambles; the players overhitting the ball and giving away the possession way too easily.

Monaco made City pay for their lack of decisiveness in the 9th minute when Mbappe tapped in a Bernardo Silva pass from the left. The initial shot of Benjamin Mendy from a corner was blocked well by John Stones only for Silva to find the ball and pass it in the middle and all Mbappe had to do was produce a clinical finish, which he did!

As Monaco got the perfect start to the night, they launched one attack after the other on Guardiola's men pushing them to the very back and didn't allow City to make much advancement. City's talented winger Raheem Sterling must also take some blame of not being able to produce decisive runs and bigger stance in important games.

Because of Monaco's high pressing, City were unable to have lengthy and stable bouts of possession while Leonardo Jardim's team thrived on their forward speed.

In the 16th minute, Mbappe netted another only to be called rightly offside. City did get a chance or two but couldn't make anything out of it and due to that Monaco looked to hit the English side on the counter.

In the 29th minute, Monaco reaped benefits of one such counter-attack when Fabinho calmly finished a Mendy pass. Mbappe cleverly broke from half-way on the left and passed to Thomas Lemar who waited before passing the ball to the overlapping Mendy and then Mendy linked with Fabinho who slotted the ball home.

Monaco had another brilliant chance in the first half itself when Fabinho's attempt was blocked by Fernandinho after Caballero had gone away from the goal post in attempt to block the ball.

With two goals in the first half, Monaco were comfortably placed at 5-5 on aggregate and were advancing on away goal advantage.

City began the second half with much more purpose as they ran over Monaco and pushed the French side on the backfoot and dug deeper in search of a goal.

In what looked like City's resurgence into the game, Subasic (Monaco's goalkeeper) had to make himself big and pull through crucial interventions to deny City many a times.

In the 63rd minute, Leroy Sane burst forward on the left and managed to get the ball in the centre towards Aguero only for a last-moment clearance from Monaco.

Just two minutes later, Aguero made a great run in the middle but could not make it count as Subasic stood big in front of him and blocked his attempt.

In the 67th minute, Sane was at it yet again on the left but Subasic ran left to make himself big in front of Sane cutting the angle so short for him that he had to take a shot himself, which hit the side netting.

City finally got rewards for their constant attempts in the 71st minute when Sterling collected a cross brilliantly with his first touch, cut inside and shot at the goal only for Subasic's save to find Sane who slotted the ball home.

Despite going up 6-5 on aggregate, City failed to close down the Monaco attack and paid for it in the 77th minute when Bakayoko scored a beautiful header from a Lemar free kick.

Monaco made their advantage count as they shut down Guardiola's City and won on away goal advantage after the tie settling 6-6 at aggregate.

With Manchester City out of the Champions League, Leicester City remain the only Premier league club in fray.