It was an interesting match between Manchester City and Middlesbrough which ended in a 1-1 draw with Marten de Roon’s injury time equaliser. Manchester City played a sloppy second half at Etihad Stadium. With this match City have drawn three consecutive home Premier League matches for the first time since November 2009 under Mark Hughes. With the opening of the match Sergio Aguero put City ahead shaping in Kevin de Bruyne’s cross for his 150th City goal with their 18th shot of the afternoon.
It was indeed Marten de Roon (Middlesbrough) excellent interceptions in midfeild which kept the game alive and he was declared Man of the Match. Post match Marten said “I saw the little Spaniard come in – City sub Aleix Garcia – and knew I could get above him. The cross had so much power on it, it couldn’t be stopped.
“I ran straight into the fans and I didn’t know what was happening in my head. I never score, it was full happiness.”
Though Manchester City dominated the game but they were not lucky enough to drive and take advantage of their chances. They created some good opportunities – Aguero, Silva and De Bruyne all got into good positions but couldn’t convert much. When the game got over the look of disappointment was evident on the face of City Players.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said: “We did absolutely everything to win the game controlled the game and in the last minute we concede a goal. It is a pity.
“We have to close the game with a second or third goal and we couldn’t do that. We created six or seven chances and didn’t score.”
On Sergio Aguero’s second-half miss at 1-0: “When you miss you have to accept that, but the league is still long. It is a miss because we have dropped six points in the last three home games but we are still there. We have to move forward.”
Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka said: “It was an amazing result. In the first half we went on to the pitch with too much respect for them.
“I told them at half-time we weren’t just there to defend and that we could play like we did in the second half. I was pleased with our performance.
“Two weeks ago at Arsenal was more difficult than today because Arsenal didn’t score and we were organised. Our reaction was really good and it is a big step to showing how good we are.”
