Man City Stumble At Spirited Leeds
04 October, 2020
English Premier League
Report: Leeds United 1-1 Manchester City
Date: 03 October 2020
Venue: Ellen Road
Manchester City suffered another early-season setback after dropping points at newly promoted Leeds United on Saturday night.
Man City made three changes, with new centre-back pairing of Aymeric Laporte and debutant Ruben Dias while Ferran Torres earned a rare start. Meanwhile, Leeds regular winger Jack Harrison was barred from playing against his parent club.
Kevin De Bruyne was unfortunate not grab an early lead for the Citizens with a clever diagonal free-kick, catching goalkeeper IIlan Meslier unawares at the near post but his effort crashed against the upright and was cleared away.
However, Raheem Sterling eventually opened the scoring for City in the 17th minute with a strike in to the bottom corner after gliding at night Leeds defence inside box.
Marcelo Bielsa's troops had an excellent chance to level matters with nine minutes left of the first stanza after Stuart Dallas experienced to handle shot-stopper Ederson at the near post however the Brazilian closed the angle quickly and made a point-blank save.
Luke Ayling must have equalised for Leeds on the stroke of half-time after profiting from one by Benjamin Mendy to go one-on-one with Ederson inside the box but the Brazilian pulled off another crucial save to preserve Man City's odd lead likely to the break.
The hosts originated from the break thrilled, as substitute Rodrigo cracked the frame of the target with a deflected shot just before the hour-mark and eventually levelled matters from the resultant corner with a tap-in after Ederson spilled Kalvin Phillips' delivery.
Bielsa's charges were a thorn in the flesh for City and came very near to going ahead with 20 minutes left after Rodrigo powered a header underneath the crossbar but Ederson's fingertips came to the rescue for Pep Guardiola's men.
Patrick Bamford also had an excellent chance to snatch a potential winner for Leeds in the last quarter of one hour with a close range strike that was acrobatically saved by Ederson.
The overall game was flowing from end to get rid of in the closing phase and Bamford had a glorious chance to snatch the winner for the hosts within the last five minutes after going clear on goal by a couple of yards but Ederson arrived on top again in a one-on-one situation.
Bamford almost scored an embarrrassing own goal with a headed clearance from a cross that was smothered by Meslier but Leeds held on to remain three points before City on the log.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za
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