CELTIC 3, MANCHESTER CITY 3
- Kevin De Bruyne ruled for for up to three weeks with hamstring injury, and may return for the trip to Barcelona on October 19.
- Manchester City fail to get record equalling 11th straight win after draw at Celtic
- Moussa Dembele strikes either side of a Raheem Sterling own goal give Celtic the lead three times
- Celtic are pegged back after City equalise through Fernandinho, Sterling, and Nolito
- Ilkay Gundogan denied a late winner by Craig Gordon as ex-City defender Kolo Toure helps to earn Celtic a point
Manchester City’s 100% start to the season came to an end at Celtic Park as both sides played out a pulsating draw in the Champions League on a wet Wednesday night in Glasgow.
In the shadow of England manager Sam Allardyce’s ignominious exit from his job, the two sides played out a thrilling six goal draw to show the better side of the British game.
Celtic took the lead three times through a brace of goals by Moussa Dembele either side of a Raheem Sterling own goal.
But they were clawed back each time by Fernandinho, Sterling, and Nolito and both sides went for a definitive winner despite City gaining the upper hand in the second half.
It was a game without bookings, or diving, and with remarkably little dissent as both sides got on with the job of producing attacking football.
City made three changes from the side that beat Swansea last weekend.
Nolito returned from a domestic ban to replace injured Kevin De Bruyne while John Stones and Bacary Sagna were replaced by Pablo Zabaleta and Gael Clichy with Aleksandar Kolarov switching back to central defence alongside Nicolas Otamendi.
Pep Guardiola, the City manager, will be unhappy with his side’s defending as they had to claw back three Celtic goals after some shaky defending by Aleksandar Kolarov in particular who was afforded little protection by a curiously reckless Fernandinho.
Guardiola said: “We scored three goals away but didn’t win.
“The team made a great effort to recover from each situation.
“It will be a good lesson for our future, how important it was to start well. They scored three goals but they didn’t have many chances. We created enough to win the game but the result is what it is.
“We realise how difficult it will be to qualify and go through and it will be this hard until the last game.
“It doesn’t matter we made mistakes, we tried to win the game.”
Manchester City claw back Celtic lead three times
An extremely motivated Celtic took an early lead after three minutes, putting Pep Guardiola behind for the first time in his City tenure.
It was a well rehearsed routine which saw Scott Sinclair’s free kick find James Forrest out wide having beaten the offside trap. Forrest crossed the ball back across the area which was chested in by Moussa Dembele after Erik Sviatchenko’s glancing header.
City levelled after beating Celtic’s offside trap with Fernandinho hauling his side back to parity 8 minutes later after Kolarov’s shot was deflected but fell nicely for the Brazilian to slot home past Craig Gordon.
Tom Rogic went close with a low free kick which went wide in the wet conditions as Celtic continued to press City.
The contest took another turn after 20 minutes when Rogic found Kieran Tierney whose shot was deflected in off the unfortunate Raheem Sterling’s foot past Claudio Bravo to hand the home side the lead again.
Sterling redeemed himself when he rounded Gordon and rolled the ball into the net after David Silva had slid the ball through to him after 28 minutes.
Nicolas Otamendi’s header from Sterling’s shot could have been diverted past Gordon in what was a hugely entertaining first half.
Celtic quickly took the lead just over a minute after the restart when Dembele’s overhead kick flew past Bravo to hand Celtic the lead again for his eighth goal in six games.
Gundogan forced a save from Gordon from a free kick as City rallied and City squared the game again when Nolito tapped in the rebound when Aguero’s shot was saved by Gordon after 55 minutes.
The pace of the game slowed inevitably in the second half as both sides made changes.
Patrick Roberts came on late for Celtic against his home club and the on-loan City man was greeted with warm applause from fans throughout the stadium
Gundogan forced Gordon into a late save with another deflected shot as a flagging Celtic side managed to hold on for the draw.