Match Report & Player Ratings: Bodo/Glimt 3-1 Manchester City (UEFA Champions League) | OneFootball

Manchester City carried on their woeful form from Saturday’s defeat to Manchester United into their trip to Bodo/Glimt tonight, suffering a humiliating 3-1 reverse in Norway.

Pep Guardiola’s team controlled the first-half possession but seemed powerless to resist the hosts’ counter-attacks as Ole Blomberg twice assisted Kasper Hogh to give his side a shock 2-0 lead at the break.

Things only got worse for the Blues in the second half as captain Rodri imploded to hand the ball to Jens Hauge to score Glimt’s third of the night and then saw red for two quick-fire yellow cards, meaning despite Rayan Cherki’s goal between those flashpoints, City were well beaten and were in truth fortunate not to lose by a greater margin.

City would have been looking for an instant reaction to the Manchester derby loss, but the first opening fell the way of the hosts as they broke from Rayan Cherki’s giveaway, with Tijjani Reijnders clearing initially before Rodri was required to block Patrick Berg’s strike from the edge.

Rayan Ait-Nouri’s positioning was an early surprise as the nature left-sider lined up on the right of defence, but the Algerian carved out an early chance for City; he teed up Cherki for a shot into the legs of Glimt goalkeeper Nikita Haikin, before Nico O’Reilly misdirected his header from the resulting corner.

Bodo/Glimt were a massive threat on the break though, and they seized on a loose ball to break through the middle, Blomberg recovering from an Abdukodir Khusanov challenge to deliver deep for Hogh to head between the legs of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

And no sooner was it 1-0 than Glimt scored again; a horror error from Max Alleyne on halfway presented the ball to Jens Hauge, who fed Blomberg to again pick out Hogh in the middle for a fantastic finish beyond Donnarumma to utterly shellshock the Blues.

City were a mess and despite an offside in the build-up, Glimt came close to adding a third on the hour, Donnarumma springing across his goal to deny Hogh a hat-trick at the back post – a Nico O’Reilly cut-back which Erling Haaland curled narrowly wide the closest City could get in a lacklustre first-half.

Whatever Guardiola told his players at half-time evidently had little initial impact, Rico Lewis giving it away within five minutes of the restart and Donnarumma again preventing further damage by flinging out a leg to deny Hakon Evjen.

And just before the hour mark, both teams got exactly what they deserved for their respective performances as Glimt added their third; Rodri ceded possession cheaply in midfield and City never got close to recovering it, Hauge cutting inside from the left and firing a magnificent finish into the top corner for 3-0.

City did immediately reduce their arrears with O’Reilly produced some good footwork on the edge of the box to tee up a deflected Cherki strike, but mere moments later any hopes of getting something from the game were flushed down the toilet for good as Rodri was sent off for two bookable offences within less than a minute – it was farcical from City’s captain on the night.

Glimt hit the crossbar then had a goal disallowed with their next two attacks after Rodri’s red, and were unfortunate not to rack up more strikes for their performance throughout the 90 minutes.

It’s a case of thank heavens for small mercies for Manchester City that the scoreline did just remain 3-1, but this result following on from the derby debacle will ring serious alarm bells for everybody at the club and raise even bigger concerns around this team’s capacity to compete this season.

Here’s how we rated the players in Manchester City’s pitiful defeat to Bodo/Glimt:

Starting XI

Gianluigi Donnarumma – 6.5 (POTM)

Has been hung out to dry by the performances of those in front of him this week. Kept the score down as much as could with some good stops, but was beaten by some goals which should have been stopped before it became the Italian’s responsibility.

Rayan Ait-Nouri – 4.5

Was promising early on from his unexpected right-back berth, but struggled to balance getting high and wide with tracking back on the numerous occasions City gave the ball away.

Abdukodir Khusanov – 4

Stopped what he could when it came his way, but even his prodigious recovery pace was helpless to resist Glimt breaking in behind again and again. Couldn’t prevent Blomberg from crossing to provide the opener.

Max Alleyne – 3

Likewise tried his best to cover as the Norwegians rampaged towards goal at will. Erred badly to allow the hosts in for their second goal.

Nico O’Reilly – 5.5

Didn’t face quite as much direct traffic down his flank as his defensive cohorts, but like Ait-Nouri, getting back from an advanced starting position to keep up with counter-attacks was troublesome.

Rodri – 2

A performance not befitting a captain of Manchester City, let alone a Ballon d’Or winner who is capable of so much more. Rarely managed to evade pressure in midfield, then gave the ball away for Glimt’s third and killed any hope of a fightback for his team with an embarrassing brace of yellow cards.

Rico Lewis – 3

Will at least be grateful not to have been caught as red-handed at the scene of the crime as he was on Saturday, but probably needed a big performance to stake a claim to staying in the team and he couldn’t deliver one. Was part of a midfield which totally failed to keep a lid on Bodo/Glimt’s counter attacks.

Tijjani Reijnders – 4.5

Probably represented the best of what little threat City could muster with his movement in behind, but as a purely midfield presence, didn’t really provide anything. Maybe should have made more of his shooting chances.

Rayan Cherki – 6

City’s biggest creative threat and hit the goal which was one of the only bright spots on a dark day for City. Gave the ball away too often when it was clear that this wasn’t a performance where his team could afford that.

Erling Haaland – 2.5

A shell of his true self at the moment. Snatched at his few openings and just looked far too far off the pace to properly involve himself.

Phil Foden – 3.5

Nothing is going right for him just now. Occasionally showed some of his quick footwork in the middle, but far more often was caught in possession or looked utterly devoid of ideas.

Substitutes

Omar Marmoush – 5

Only had a few chances to run with the ball.