Are Manchester City 'back'? Not even Pep Guardiola knows

MONACO -- The statement astir whether Manchester City "are back" is going to beryllium a taxable of their season.

It's possibly lone earthy aft a squad which has been truthful ascendant for truthful agelong suffers an unexpected and spectacular dip.

Pep Guardiola and Bernardo Silva were some asked astatine their respective pre-match quality conferences connected Tuesday evening astir the level of this City team. Neither subordinate oregon manager seemed wholly definite of the answer. You tin spot why.

On Wednesday, they were bully successful parts against AS Monaco and susceptible successful others. They should person won, but they didn't. A precocious Eric Dier punishment -- awarded by VAR -- pegged backmost Guardiola's side, who had to settee for a 2-2 draw. It wasn't a atrocious result, but it wasn't good, either.

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The question astir erstwhile the aged City mightiness beryllium backmost is nary person to being answered.

"We played a truly bully game," said Guardiola. "We ever effort to make much chances and concede fewer and that's what happened.

"They person accelerated players with their physicality truthful strong, but we conceded fewer and we created a batch of chances, considering it is the Champions League and I'm truly pleased for that.

"Of course, we were person but, successful the end, we could not support a escaped footwear good and we conceded the penalty."

For each the doubts astir this mentation of Guardiola's City, 1 happening is certain: they person 1 of their astir fearsome goal-scorers connected the satellite and that volition ever beryllium capable to guarantee you're beauteous good.

Erling Haaland scored doubly astatine Stade Louis II and the lone ailment astir the Norwegian striker's show was that helium had different chances to enactment the crippled to bed. Another nighttime helium mightiness person had 3 oregon four.

The 2 helium did get were axenic striker's goals and determination are fewer amended successful the satellite astatine the out-and-out No. 9 role. His archetypal interaction of the crippled ended up successful the net. After 15 minutes, Josko Gvardiol clipped a walk implicit Monaco's defence and Haaland darted successful betwixt Monaco's 3 halfway backs to drawback the shot connected its mode up and lifted his decorativeness implicit Philipp Köhn with the toed of his boot.

His 2nd was adjacent better.

There was nary gait connected the transverse from Nico O'Reilly arsenic it floated into the punishment area. Haaland, though, turned it into a chance. He mislaid his marker, jumped early, craned his cervix to make capable powerfulness successful the header and recovered the country of the net. It looked simple, but it wasn't. Haaland has made a wont of making exceptional things look normal.

"The athleticism was fantastic," said Guardiola.

For a agelong clip nether Guardiola, City were exceptional, too. But the feeling of invincibility was punctured past play and it's proving hard to get back.

Jordan Teze scored a stunning equaliser for the hosts successful the fi...