Despite the 2-1 win in the second leg, Manchester lose out on UEFA Cup semis spot to Hamburg
Despite the 2-1 win in the second leg, Manchester lose out on UEFA Cup semis spot to HamburgManchester City gave a battling performance to beat Hamburg 2-1 at Eastlands but exited the UEFA Cup.
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Manchester City's Elano Blumer (center) converts a penalty against Hamburg during their 2-1 win in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. Hamburg advanced to the semis with a 4-3 aggregate. PIC/AP |
Hamburg clinched a place in the semi-finals after taking the lead on the night through Paolo Guerrero.
City fought back and Elano (penalty) and Felipe Caicedo gave them hope by reducing the deficit. But it was not enough for City who had skipper Richard Dunne sent off.
After being 3-1 down from the first leg the last thing manager Mark Hughes wanted was for his side to concede an early goal. But that's exactly what happened and Hamburg scored after only 11 minutes.
City failed to deal with a routine cross from Jonathan Pitroipa and Paolo Guerrero took full advantage to score from close range.
Elano put them level on the night after 16 minutes when Piotr Trochowski was adjudged to have handled his shot and he stepped up and slotted home the resulting penalty. City, however, went ahead 2-1 on the night in the 50th minute when Caicedo used his strength to carve out an opening after a clever through ball from Stephen Ireland. The forward showed good composure to rifle a shot beyond Frank Rost and narrow the margin overall to one goal.
City nearly drew level on aggregate in the 53rd minute only for Elano's free-kick to rattle the post before Caicedo hoisted a shot over the bar from six yards.
The hosts suffered a blow in the 75th minute when they were reduced to 10 men, Dunne sent off after collecting two yellow cards. Micah Richards and Daniel Sturridge both came close but the tie ended in frustration for City.
