Soccer Central

Manchester City entered this evening’s game knowing that they had a lot to do if the club was to reach the UEFA Cup Semi-Final; City had a two goal deficit to makeup, and when Hamburg went 1-0 up after a mere 12 minutes, things were definitely not looking good for City.

When Manchester City was provided with a penalty in the 17th minute, City was offered a way back into the match, and turned to Elano as the man to level the score. Elano slotted home confidently, and although he’s not always a popular figure at the club; he did well this evening, and as well as scoring a goal he also hit the post and crossbar from free kicks.

Felipe Caicedo added a second for City in the 50th minute, and this therefore provided for a thrilling second-half of action. City had so many chances to grab a third, and Caicedo did in fact score another, only to see his goal ruled out for offside. The game could well have gone to extra-time, and although all City’s players battled hard and played well; they just couldn’t find another goal, and when club captain Richard Dunne was sent off in the 75th minute this more or less killed the game off as a contest. City enjoyed so much possession up until this point, and had so many chances to score; after Dunne was sent off though this killed the club’s spirit, and Hamburg then looked to be the livelier of the two teams.

The Man City players will be pleased this evening, safe in the knowledge that they gave the game their best shot; ultimately though it’s Hamburg that will be progressing to the UEFA Cup semi-final, whilst City will now be looking to secure a place in next year’s Europa League.

There are now no more English teams left in the UEFA Cup, over in the Champions League though; three of the remaining four teams are English. We now look to Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United as the teams that have the chance to provide us with European success this season, and it could well once again be an all English Champions League final.