FOOTBALL Live

Thursday October 2, 2008 Finished City of Manchester Stadium

Logo 2 - 1

Manchester City

  • Elano 47’
  • Wright-Phillips 55’

Omonia Nicosia

  • Alabi 77’
  1. Manchester City cruise past Cypriots

    Manchester City cruise past Cypriots

    Manchester City cruised into the group stage of the UEFA Cup after they beat Cypriot side Omonia Nicosia 2-1 at Eastlands. More

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Manchester City
    • Omonia Nicosia
    • 90' FINAL WHISTLE - That was a job well done in the second half by Mark Hughes's Man City after struggling in the first half.
    • 90 Four minutes of added time is signalled but it looks as though the brave Cypriots will be going home empty handed.
    • 89 Hart drops a corner but is fortunate to gather it at the second attempt. City break up field, Wright-Phillips passes to Evans who lays of Petrov who again sends his shot straight at the keeper.
    • 86 Petrov has another effort on goal and this time earns a corner, that comes to nothing, of Georgallides who has been very busy throughout this second 45.
    • 84' Hamann sends a lovely ball over the top to Evans his first touch with the head is lovely but he makes the wrong choice by shooting for goal when he had players arriving in support.
    • 80' Petrov receives the ball from a corner deep on the left hand side his powerful shot stings the hands of Grorgallides. On the counter attack Omonia look strong and but for a Richards block Hart could have been called into action himself.
    • 77' Zabaleta taking no chances and puts a cross out for a corner. Substitute Alabi gets to the ball ahead of Ben-Haim and sends a thumping header into the roof of Joe Hart's net. Twelve minutes left and the visitors need two goals. Is it possible?
    • 74' Ched Evans tries a scissor kick from the just inside the 18-yard box but unfortunately for the young Welsh man he makes a hash of it much to the amusement of everyone inside the stadium.
    • 72 Petrov makes an instant impact almost getting onto the end of a through ball and putting in a testing cross that has the opposition keeper all over the place.
    • 70 Robinho comes of to a standing ovation to be replaced by Martin Petrov. The Bulgarian has not played in the last six games.
    • 67' Garrido gets down the flank to fire in a ball for Wright-Phillips to have a pop, this time however his shot is charged down.
    • 64' Ireland gives away a free kick about 30 yards from goal the resultant effort comes of his head and safely into the arms of Joe Hart who has been a virtual spectator for most of the second half
    • 55' Wright Phillips doubles the hosts lead with a great shot from just inside the 18 yard box. He got a bit of luck with a bobble of a defender but my word he made no mistake with his effort.
    • 51' Robinho the British record signing is pulling the strings now he would have provided Ireland with an opportunity to fire into an open net if Georgallides had not, just about, got his finger tips to his cross.
    • 47 Robinho rolls the ball into the stride of his countryman Elano who fires his shot low and hard into the bottom left of the net past a helpless Georgallides. What a goal!
    • HT The result as it stands suits the English team but the Cypriots have certainly proved they are no pushovers. They have limited their hosts to a handful of half chances.
    • 45' Another dangerous ball from Zabaleta comes to nothing this time finding safety from the boot Pletsch.
    • 44' Zabaleta puts a teasing ball from the right just across the six yard box but it is just out Jo's reach - that was perhaps the host's best effort in the opening period.
    • 43' Elano has a free kick effort from 30 yards out but only manages to find the Omonia wall.
    • 39' Ireland gets onto a Jo pass from the bye line but his effort is put out for a corner by a combination of the goalkeeper and left back.
    • 38' Georgallides is down bravely at the feet of Robinho, who was looking to latch on to an Ireland through-ball, to snuff out an attack.
    • 35' The 1200 Cypriot fans behind the goal don't seem to care about the score-line or the Manchester weather as they appear to be having the time of their lives.
    • 33' Wright-Phillips wins a free kick in a dangerous position on the right which Elano fails to make the most of with a poor delivery into the box.
    • 29' No nonsense from Ben-Haim who puts an end to an Omonia counter attack by blasting the ball into row Z.
    • 28' Ireland, now at the other end of the pitch, makes the wrong decision by having a shot when it should have passed it to Robinho who was in space to his right.
    • 25' Stephen Ireland is back in defence and gets there just in the nick of time to prevent Bangura from putting in a shot from close. Excellent play from the Irishman.
    • 22' City look more composed now as their Brazilian trio of Robinho, Elano and Jo try to find a way through the opposition defence.
    • 18' Slovenian Zlogar, who is receiving stitches on the sideline, watches on as his side allow Robinho to try a speculative shot from distance that sails well over.
    • 16' Anton Zlogar is forced of with a nasty looking facial injury following a clash of heads with Argentine defender Zabaleta
    • 13' Ireland starts of a move with a wonderful pass to Jo who lays on his international team-mate Robinho to fire across the face of the goal and just wide - City's first real attack almost pays dividends.
    • 10' City are finding it hard to string passes together and cope with an Omonia side that is pressing hard in search of a goal.
    • 5' An Omonia corner evades the City players and they are perhaps fortunate that none of the opposition are quick of the mark either. This is a strong start from the Cypriots.
    • 1' Match underway.
    • - Vincent Kompany returns to midfield after a knee injury picked up in the weekend’s game against was not as bad as first feared. Jo retains starts up front and a repeat of his brace in the first leg would be more than welcomed by the Eastland’s crowd tonight. However there is no place in the starting 11 for club captain Richard Dunne.
    • - Hello and welcome to Eurosport-Yahoo!'s LIVE coverage of Manchester City v Omonia Nicosia in the second leg of their UEFA Cup first-round clash, from 19:45 UK time!

  • Team Stats

    Manchester City Stats Omonia Nicosia
    57% Possession 42%
    19 Shots 9
    8 Shots on target 3
    1 Saves 5
    8 Corners 6
    10 Fouls 15
    3 Offsides 3
    1 Yellow cards 0
    0 Red cards 0
    32 Tackles 21
    445 Accurate passes 280
    73 Bad passes 46

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Manchester City
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Joe Hart 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 2 0
      15 Javier Garrido 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 41 17 5
      5 Pablo Zabaleta 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 43 1 7
      26 Tal Ben Haim 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 67 2 1
      2 Micah Richards 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 41 4 2
      33 Vincent Kompany 0 0 0 3 2 0 0 36 3 2
      7 Stephen Ireland 0 3 0 3 1 0 0 38 5 8
      8 Shaun Wright-Phillips 1 4 2 2 3 2 0 23 6 1
      11 Blumer Elano 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 58 17 4
      10 Robson de Souza 0 4 1 1 1 1 1 37 7 0
      14 João Alves de Assis Silva 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 20 1 0
      17 Martin Petrov 0 4 3 0 0 0 0 9 3 0
      28 Daniel Sturridge 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      16 Kasper Schmeichel 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      24 Ched Evans 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 8 3 0
      21 Dietmar Hamann 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 13 2 2
      19 Gelson Fernandes 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      3 Michael Ball 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    • Omonia Nicosia
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      30 Antonis Georgallides 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0
      3 Hamad Ndikumana 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 23 0 6
      33 Ilias Charalambous 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 23 14 2
      4 Timo Wenzel 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 31 3 2
      6 Marcelo Pletsch 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 37 2 0
      20 Mustapha Bangura 0 1 0 2 2 0 0 13 4 0
      8 Anton Zlogar 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 48 3 1
      46 Efstathios Aloneftis 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 21 8 4
      10 Costas Kaiafas 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 18 1 0
      25 Giannakis Okkas 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 24 4 2
      77 Demetris Christofi 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 1 2
      1 Nikolas Asprogenis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      22 Clayton Ferreira Cruz 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 2 0
      98 Aleksandar Pantic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      9 Francisco Aguirre 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      5 Dimitris Maris 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      2 Rasheed Alabi 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 15 4 2
      99 Arlindo Cafú 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0

  • Summary

    • 77' Zabaleta taking no chances and puts a cross out for a corner. Substitute Alabi gets to the ball ahead of Ben-Haim and sends a thumping header into the roof of Joe Hart's net. Twelve minutes left and the visitors need two goals. Is it possible?
    • 55' Wright Phillips doubles the hosts lead with a great shot from just inside the 18 yard box. He got a bit of luck with a bobble of a defender but my word he made no mistake with his effort.
    • 47 Robinho rolls the ball into the stride of his countryman Elano who fires his shot low and hard into the bottom left of the net past a helpless Georgallides. What a goal!
    • 38' Georgallides is down bravely at the feet of Robinho, who was looking to latch on to an Ireland through-ball, to snuff out an attack.
    • 25' Stephen Ireland is back in defence and gets there just in the nick of time to prevent Bangura from putting in a shot from close. Excellent play from the Irishman.
    • 13' Ireland starts of a move with a wonderful pass to Jo who lays on his international team-mate Robinho to fire across the face of the goal and just wide - City's first real attack almost pays dividends.

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: M. Ennjimi

  • Manchester City

    Manager: Mark Hughes

    Starting line-up

    • J. Hart
    • P. Zabaleta
    • T. Ben Haim Yellow Card
    • M. Richards
    • J. Garrido
    • S. Ireland
    • V. Kompany Substitution Out (66′)
    • S. Wright-Phillips Goal
    • B. Elano Goal
    • .. Robinho Substitution Out (70′)
    • .. Jo Substitution Out (66′)

    Subs

    • D. Hamann Substitution In66′
    • M. Ball
    • M. Petrov Substitution In70′
    • K. Schmeichel
    • G. Fernandes
    • D. Sturridge
    • C. Evans Substitution In66′

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None

  • Omonia Nicosia

    Manager: Nedum Dudic

    Captain: Elias Charalambous

    Starting line-up

    • A. Georgallides
    • H. Ndikumana
    • T. Wenzel
    • M. Pletsch
    • S. Aloneftis
    • E. Charalambous
    • M. Bangura Substitution Out (58′)
    • A. Zlogar
    • K. Kaiafas Substitution Out (46′)
    • D. Christofi Substitution Out (82′)
    • Y. Okkas

    Subs

    • J. Clayton Substitution In58′
    • C. Cafu Substitution In82′
    • A. Pantic
    • R. Alabi Substitution In46′ Goal
    • F. Aguirre
    • N. Asprogenis
    • D. Maris

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    None