Manchester City may have won the battle on Tuesday night in the UEFA Champions League, but it may prove very costly.
Manuel Pellegrini saw his side emerge winners over Dynamo Kiev by a 3-1 aggregate score after a goalless draw at the Etihad.
The game overall was a very drab affair, as Kiev failed to muster any attempt of note in the opening 45 minutes.
However the game’s key talking point came after just five minutes, when Vincent Kompany appeared to catch his leg in the turf as he was making a clearance.
The injury means he is likely to miss the Manchester derby at the weekend, and his loss was further compounded when his central defensive partner Nicolas Otamendi was also taken off with an injury minutes later.
A premature end to this #UCL night for City's captain Kompany. pic.twitter.com/Rma70CuDuK
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 15, 2016
City’s hopes of winning the Champions League look bleak without their front line defensive partnership, and the stats back it up.
There was firstly the devastating fact of how Kompany’s muscles are made of glass.
@DTguardian And injury 32.
— Kristof Terreur (@kristofterreur) March 15, 2016
The injury means he is likely to miss even more games for the club.
This is Man City's 46th game of the season and Kompany was making just his 18th appearance. Injuries now costing him and City big time.
— Mark Ogden (@MarkOgden_) March 15, 2016
And losing his defensive partner looks like it will have a huge impact on City’s silverware ambitions domestically and in Europe.
194 – Man City have conceded a goal every 194 mins in the PL this season with Kompany on the pitch, compared to every 65 mins without. Off.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 15, 2016
And there wasn’t much sympathy from Manchester United fans.
Kompany and Otamendi injured….Louis Van Gaals reactionhttps://t.co/kJh3K7usZM
— Free Super Tips (@FootySuperTips) March 15, 2016
With a second league title in three seasons drifting away from Manuel Pellegrini the UEFA Champions League would have been top of his priority list to end his tenure on Manchester on a high.
But without their leader and captain Kompany that will be all the harder task.
Th other last 16 clash went all the way to penalties as there was no separating Athletico Madrid and PSv.
The game ended 0-0 after the 210 minutes across both legs and so both sides had to prepare for the lottery of penalties.
Cleary both teams were well prepared, but ultimately a costly miss was punished by Juanfran.
Penalties
MISS! Narsingh (Atlético 7-7 PSV)#UCL— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 15, 2016
Penalties
GOAL! Juanfran (Atlético 8-7 PSV)#UCL pic.twitter.com/86PsU6Xtos— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 15, 2016
PepsiCo has kicked off the next phase of its UEFA Champions League sponsorship with a new on-pack promotion that gives you the chance to win prizes every hour with #GAMEREADY Doritos packs.
Prizes include official UEFA t-shirts and footballs to tickets to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final in Milan on May 28th.
