- French side Lyon defeated Man City 2-1 in Group F opener in the Champions League
- Maxwel Cornet and Nabil Fekir scored a goal apiece to gift the French side a deserved victory
- Bernado Silva netted City's consolation in the second half
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City got their UEFA Champions League campaign off to a disappointing start after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Lyon at the Etihad stadium on Wednesday, September 19.
The match saw City assistant manager Mikel Arteta stand in for Pep Guardiola who is currently serving a one-game suspension after being sent off in City's defeat to Liverpool last season.
Arteta's presence, however, failed to inspire the highly-talented Man City side as Lyon's two first-half goals condemned them to a defeat.
READ ALSO: 10-man Juventus beat Valencia 2-0 in their Champions League opener in Spain
Lyon should have taken an early lead in the 24th minute via Maxwell Cornet who breached City’s defensive line with a clever run but was adjudged to have been offside.
However, the Lyon winger came back haunting City's backline two minutes later, netting the match's opener in the 26th minute capitalising on Fabian Delph's messy clearance from Nabil Fekir's simple cross from the left.
Fekir doubled Lyon's lead two minutes before half-time leaving City with an uphill task.
Upon the resumption of the second-half, Lyon remained clinical in their defence even as City's dreadful attack continued to press on.
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The home side's efforts finally paid off in the 67th minute as Bernado Silva pulled one back for Pep Guardiola's men.
However, the goal was not enough to salvage the Citizens from an embarrassing defeat as they went on to lose the encounter before their faithfuls.
City, who were knocked out of last year's competition in the quarter-finals by eventual finalists Liverpool will be looking to get their campaign back on track in their subsequent group matches where they have been drawn alongside Shakhtar Donetsk and Hoffenheim.
NAIJ.com earlier reported that Juventus got their UEFA Champions League campaign off to a winning start after beating Valencia 2-0 at the Estadio Mestalla on Wednesday night.
Miralem Pjanic opened scoring for the visitors through the spot kick in the 45th minute after Daniel Parejo conceded a penalty for dangerous play against Joao Cancelo.
Barely six minutes after after the resumption of the second half, Pjanic doubled his side via penalty after Jeison Murillo was booked for pushing Leonardo Bonucci in the danger zone.
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Source: Naija.ng
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