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UCL: United prevails while City suffers a home defeat to Lyon

By Zaph Hutson

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: David Silva of Manchester City looks dejected as Pape Cheikh Diop of Lyon celebrates the final whistle during the Group F match of the UEFA Champions League between Manchester City and Olympique Lyonnais at Etihad Stadium on September 19, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: David Silva of Manchester City looks dejected as Pape Cheikh Diop of Lyon celebrates the final whistle during the Group F match of the UEFA Champions League between Manchester City and Olympique Lyonnais at Etihad Stadium on September 19, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /
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Wednesday was a tale of two Manchesters. Both United and City competed in Champions League football but each team came away with very different results.

Young Boys 0-3 Manchester United

BERN, SWITZERLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Paul Pogba of Manchester United scores the second goal for Manchester during the Group H match of the UEFA Champions League between BSC Young Boys and Manchester United at Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf on September 19, 2018 in Bern, Switzerland. (Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)
BERN, SWITZERLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Paul Pogba of Manchester United scores the second goal for Manchester during the Group H match of the UEFA Champions League between BSC Young Boys and Manchester United at Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf on September 19, 2018 in Bern, Switzerland. (Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images) /

The scoreline looks predictable. However, Manchester United fans were anything but confident for the first 35 minutes of the game. The Young Boys got shot after shot off, many of which were sent just barely out of the goal by De Gea. These came from the likes of Mohamed Aly Camara, Christian Fassnacht, and Guillaume Hoarau. The Swiss team were dominant early on but that all changed when Pogba scored a beautiful goal bouncing in from the cross bar.

At that point, United could get their bearings and play their kind of game. Soon after the first goal, Pobga again scored. This time it was a penalty that came from a handball by one of the Young Boys players. Somewhat controversially, soon after this call Chris Smalling seemed to have a handball of his own. This time, it wasn’t called by the ref. In the 66th minute, Anthony Martial netted a close-range goal to put the game on ice.

Manchester City 1-2 Olympique Lyonnais

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Bernardo Silva of Manchester City (obscure) scores his team’s first goal past Anthony Lopes of Lyon during the Group F match of the UEFA Champions League between Manchester City and Olympique Lyonnais at Etihad Stadium on September 19, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Bernardo Silva of Manchester City (obscure) scores his team’s first goal past Anthony Lopes of Lyon during the Group F match of the UEFA Champions League between Manchester City and Olympique Lyonnais at Etihad Stadium on September 19, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) /

If you were to make a combined starting XI between these two teams, it would feature barely any Lyon players. Even so, they outplayed Manchester City. Before halftime, Lyon were up 2 goals. Nabil Fekir had a hand in both goals, assisting in the first and scoring the second. City, on the other hand, seemed far too reliant on Sterling up front. He was stifled by Lyon’s defense and didn’t get much help from fellow forward Gabriel Jesus. City’s single goal came from Bernardo Silva.

Next. Liverpool v PSG recap. dark

While it may seem like Manchester City should be panicking, there is not much to worry about. They are in one of the easiest groups in the Champions League and shouldn’t have much trouble playing Hoffenheim on October 2nd. Lyon proved that they had great chemistry and were capable of taking down giants.

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