Monaco 2-2 Manchester City: Haaland double cancelled out by late Dier penalty at Stade Louis II | OneFootball

Despite a dominant display throughout, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City had to settle for a draw after a late, controversial penalty took away any chance of the Citizens taking all three points

Erling Haaland had given City the lead early on before a stunner from Jordan Teze pulled Monaco level.

Yet again, the Norwegian was the man to score and restore the lead, but a late penalty converted by Eric Dier meant the two sides had to settle for a point apiece at the Stade Louis II.

As it happened

Guardiola and Manchester City have bad memories of Monaco. In the manager’s first season at the club, the Citizens were beaten in a two-legged thriller during a disappointing Champions League campaign. Fast forward nine years and they arrived in Monaco a different side, fresh off the back of a resounding 5-1 victory against Burnley. A slightly changed City side aimed to continue their 100% start to life in the Champions League group stage.

The first half started quietly, as City attempted to establish a foothold in the game among a feisty atmosphere on the Côte d’Azur. They did manage to carve out some early chances, with Tijjani Reinders and Haaland challenged keeper Phillip Köhn’s goal.

You can never keep Haaland quiet for long though. The ever-prolific striker looped a close-range effort into the far corner on 15 minutes after already threatening the Monaco goal.

But the hosts were not deterred by this early set back and came back intensely. This culminated in a equaliser shortly after Haaland’s opener, with Teze rifling home a shot from outside of the box following a brilliant cross curtesy of a Krépin Diatta just three minutes after going behind.

Monaco would have liked to continue their pressure, but suffered a set-back when full back Vanderson suffered a nasty injury to his knee resulting in a change of system for the hosts.

City began to dominate in trademark fashion, holding onto the ball and moving the hosts defenders until an opening arrived. With Haaland, it usually does, and the striker managed to squeeze in a header from close range to double his tally and put City ahead once more.

Monaco responded to Haaland’s second by making the game scrappy and tough. City were given the majority of the ball and almost made the hosts pay for their defensive approach, as Reijnders rattled a shot against the crossbar. The hosts continued to make life difficult for the Citizens. That said, Haaland had a few half chances as the game looked to have fallen into Guardiola’s side’s favour towards the end.

That was until the 90th minute of the game, when Nico was penalised for a high foot in the penalty area; his foul on Dier was subsequently given as a penalty, and the controversial spot-kick was met with heavy protests from the City backroom staff.

However, it was to no avail. Dier, who won the spot kick, stepped up to level proceedings. The former Spurs man rewarded a disciplined and matured performance with both a well-deserved goal and point at the Stade Louis II.

The lineups

ASM: Köhn; Kehrer, Dier, Salisu; Vanderson, Coulibaly, Teze, Diatta; Akliouche, Fati; Balogun