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In the end, it was a great draw for Manchester City, as Maxwel Cornet's second goal nine minutes from the end seemed to have managed to win, but Sergio Aguero equalized almost instantly. The bottom line is that Pep Guardiola's men finished with a losing game.
Nevertheless, all opponents should study how Lyon led the fight to the champions of England and approached so close to another victory. City's thin paper rearguard was sidelined as the striker ran back to restore Lyon's lead – and that was the story of the visitors' defense.
Guardiola has been as honest as ever about the quality that the city has to face against the most beautiful sides of the continent. "Today, the Champions League showed me again that the competition was different," he said.
"The players are better, when you press and you do something, they make an extra pbad. The demands are so high. When people say it's easy in the Champions League, you can not imagine how confused they are. After losing the first match [to Lyon] it was not a surprise. "
He stressed that national football offers a different type of competition. "You can lose Premier League games and still have the rest to recover," said the manager.
"Tonight we showed our personality, we got the point we needed. Qualifying for the last 16 places means we can now play the Premier League and cups and prepare for February [when it resumes]. "
Guardiola made three changes when Fabian Delph, Nicolás Otamendi and Ilkay Gündogan gave up for Aleksandr Zinchenko, John Stones and Riyad Mahrez.
The star of Lyon was the captain, Nabil Fekir, who had pbaded a fitness test on an abductor problem to take his place at the front alongside Cornet and Memphis Depay.
Lyon delivered their only loss to City this season in the September reverse match and quickly showed how they did it. Their attack was quick and delicate and could make Guardiola's men do what they loved to do to their opponents.
Maxwel Cornet celebrates his goal, and that of Lyon, his second goal of the match. Photo: Emmanuel Foudrot / Reuters
An excellent illustration came when Cornet found an unmarked Depay with the gaping goal, but he struck terribly badly. City sent his warning to David Silva, who was flying in Lyon and exchanged pbades with Agüero about to pbad directly behind, but the pressure was too strong.
After Fernandinho was retained for Depay, Guardiola's men forced Lyon to come back, but they should have conceded it.
The fast-as-light Ferland Mendy outstripped Kyle Walker and lashed a center from the left. Cornet trailed and still had time to beat Ederson, but Aymeric Laporte stepped in and City escaped.
Cornet walked down the hall on the right and exposed City again. Walker was relieved to carry the ball to Ederson's safety. At half-time, it was an open and entertaining affair, in which City had hardly threatened Anthony Lopes' goal.
In addition, Guardiola may have questioned his defense about how Cornet had been allowed to volley over Ederson's bar without any pressure. When the whistle finally sounded, the cities were relieved to still have parity. At this point, the form of the latter was more fluid, with three central defenders, including Zinchenko in the center of the field when he was in possession of the ball.
However, the same disconnect hindered their progress when Silva, usually sublime, managed to deceive Agüero. They were so desperate to ask Lopes a kind of problem that Raheem Sterling had resorted to a speculative strike.
Even by winning a rare corner, Leroy Sané gave a small goal to Silva and gave the ball to Lyon.
The next time Bruno Genesio's players advanced, they easily defeated City.
Depay gathered along the left and looked up and found the right ball inside. It happened to Cornet and after a while to stabilize, he beat Ederson with a nice 20-yard shot.
It came all night. City's response was immediate: Lopes beat Agüero and Sané was behind, but no teammate could get the end of his center from the left.
Guardiola paced the whole area and was about to turn cheering. Sterling gave a free-kick to the right and this time Lyon was asleep and Laporte equalized with a header.
Each team could have won in a frenzied finish. Now, it remains to be seen which of these two players occupies the top of the group rankings – City only needing one point to be sure.
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