Man City Leaves It Late to Stun Schalke

Schalke 04 thought they were on the verge of springing the upset.

Because they were.

Die Königsblauen -- Royal Blues -- had welcomed Manchester City to the Veltins Arena for their Champions League Round of 16 first-leg match. Putting it mildly the Citizens were surprised by Schalke's quality and were reduced to ten men. In spite of it all, dudes clamored back into contention and emerged with a just under the gun 2-3 victory.

 

Maybe Schalke let their guard down after Argentine center-back Nicolas Otamendi earned a second yellow in the 68th minute. However, thanks to Leroy Sané's superb free-kick and Raheem Sterling's last-minute goal, City's off to Jolly Old in a commanding position for the second leg.

The Citizens started the match pushing forward big-time, as the hosts were all into defending. It paid dividents in the 18th minute when goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann's poor pass was intercepted by David Silva. Dude drove into the box and found an unmarked Sergio Agüero, who did what he always does in that situation:

 

Go figure. That's Sergio Agüero, for chrissakes!

How does any competent back four leave him alone?

 

City kept pressing the German side, and a second seemed to be close.

However, in the 38th minute, Schalke got the benefit of a long VAR call. As a result, the referee awarded them a penalty due to Otamendi's handball. Nabil Bentaleb stepped up and sent Ederson the other way:

 

In the 45th, Bentaleb had another penalty to convert.

This time, the referee saw Fernandinho foul Salif Sané.

 

After the break, City threw themselves at Schalke, but saw their hopes almost vanish as Otamendi was sent off at the 68th minute for a needless foul.

Everything seemed to lead to a happy ending for die Königsblauen, but in the 85th, their former youth talent -- the famous Sané, no relation to their current Sané -- superbly curled home a free-kick from distance:

 

Germans exchange their first set of holiday gifts on St Nicholas Day, which is every 6 December.

Schalke got in the holiday spirt 'way early. Or 'way late, depending on the point of view.

Whichever, damn near on the stroke of 90, City wrapped up an unlikely victory when Sterling robbed Bastian Oczipka, got up close and personal with Fahrmann, and ...

 

Manchester's the second-largest city in England and is well worth the visit.

Schalke's troupe might want to think about organizing a tour in three weeks so they'll get something out of their trip. Odds are that won't happen at the Etihad.