Champions League: Milner laments dropped points as City fail to fire in Europe again
MANCHESTER CITY 1 AS ROMA 1
MANCHESTER City midfielder James Milner rued two points dropped after England’s champions were left fighting for their European survival by a hard-fought draw at home to Italy’s pace-setters Roma.
City looked to have conjured the perfect response to defeat in their Champions League group opener at Bayern Munich when striker Sergio Aguero won and then converted an early penalty last night. But evergreen Roma captain Francesco Totti, 38, promptly equalised to leave winless City with just one point from two games and facing a battle to reach the knockout stage.
“We didn’t play at our best but we had a fair few chances and could have nicked it,” said Milner. “We never played at our tempo, which teams find hard to deal with. They are well organised and we didn’t do enough.”
City took the lead in the fourth minute when their former right-back Maicon tugged Aguero in the penalty area and the Argentina forward sent rookie Roma goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski the wrong way.
Maicon almost made amends with a shot that thudded the crossbar, but the visitors drew level in the 23rd minute when Totti capitalised on Joe Hart’s slip to flick a precise finish past the advancing goalkeeper.