Manchester City Overcome By Resilient Hamburg

Hamburger SV 3 - 1 Manchester City

Prematch

Ex-Spurs manager Martin Jol welcomed Manchester City to the Nordbank Arena tonight to face his new squad, Hamburger SV.

The surprise late addition of Stephen Ireland to the City squad saw Mark Hughes field an ultra attacking side in Germany, starting Robinho, Daniel Sturridge, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Craig Bellamy all at the front for the visitors.

First Half

It is not often that a European first leg tie starts with the intensity that tonight's game in Hamburg did. Manchester City quickly took control of the ball in midfield as the game commenced, and as the ball fell to the feet of Stephen Ireland, the midfielder wasted no time in finding Robinho with a lofted a 40 yard pass wide on the left.

The Brazilian held the ball up well and played through an onrushing Ireland and the 22-year-old made no mistake as he buried a shot into the bottom right hand corner of Frank Rost's goal, all in the space of an incredible 35 seconds.

A stunned Hamburg looked to engineer a swift reprisal, and quickly bombarded City's goal. Fantastic attempts from David Jarolim, Mladen Petric, and Michael Gravgaard all forced incredible saves from Shay Given, the Irishman's impressive reflexes proving once again that he is indeed one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

However, just before the ten minute mark, Given's goal-line was eventually breached. Hamburg's intense flurry ended with a corner from the home side being directed into City's net off the head of defender Joris Mathijsen.

After the early excitement, the teams both started to feel each other out in the wake of what was anything but a normal start to a European first leg clash.

Jonathan Pitriopa almost put the home side in the lead midway through the first half, after a mistake from Pablo Zabaleta allowed Hamburg to swing in a cross. Pitriopa managed to nod the ball goalwards as the pass found him lingering at the back post, but his attempt only got as far as the post before play resumed in the middle of the park.

Marcel Jansen enjoyed a spell of joy down the left flank as the ex-Bayern wing back managed to beat Micah Richards on one occasion before cutting inside to test Given. However, City's shot-stopper was untroubled by the strike aimed straight at him.

As the half drew to a close, a reckless challenge from Piotr Trochowski on Richard Dunne meant that the German would find himself the first player of the evening to enter the referee's book.

Advertisement - article continues below »


Second Half

Mark Hughes made the first change of the match opting to replace Wayne Bridge with Javier Garrido on the left side of the back four. And, as expected, Hamburg started the second half on the front foot after some wise words from Martin Jol during the break.

The home side pushed hard for an equalizer, and their persistence almost paid off early in the second half as Wright-Phillips was forced to clear the ball off City's line after a frantic melee in Given's box following a Hamburg corner.

After a decent start to the game, young striker Daniel Sturridge quietened down a good bit in the second half, with Mark Hughes opting to replace the 19-year-old with the more experienced Benjani up front for the Citizens.

Shortly after Benjani had taken to the pitch, some pressure from Hamburg saw Micah Richards handle the ball in his own box, resulting in a penalty for the home side. Trochowski stepped up and made no mistake, drilling the ball hard into the right hand side of the net to put Martin Jol's side 2-1 up.

A surprise change from Jol saw him replace the largely impressive Ivica Olic who had been pulling the strings for Hamburg throughout the match. Peruvian striker Jose Paolo Guerrero would be the replacement for the workhorse Olic.

Guerrero's introduction would soon pay off for the home side though, as some impressive work down the left flank from Trochowski allowed the midfielder to play a low ball through to the unmarked Guerrero on the six yard line. The 25-year-old made no mistake putting the ball into the net from close range to make the score to 3-1.

A late penalty shout from Jarolim was waved off by the Portuguese referee after the Hamburg captain had collided with Garrido in the box. The Czech did not look overly fazed by the decision however, as the home side saw the game out with relative comfort.

( Stephen Crawford / Goal )