Manchester City staged a dramatic late comeback to fight back from a goal down to beat Schalke 3-2 in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola's side looked like they were heading for defeat after a brace of first-half penalties from former Tottenham midfielder Nabil Bentaleb cancelled out Sergio Aguero's early goal. The visitors rallied though, despite Nicolas Otamendi's sending off, and earned a thrilling win after two goals in the final five minutes from Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling.
The victory was significant in the context of the tie, as it gives Guardiola's side the edge heading into the second leg at the Etihad. But it also took on a greater significance as stats provided by Opta show it continued a superb recent record that City have against sides from the Bundesliga.
The Citizens are now unbeaten in their last eight Champions League games against German opposition, in which they have won seven of those games and drawn just the one. The last time they tasted defeat against a Bundesliga side was back in September 2014, when champions Bayern Munich edged out City by a single goal.
Victory over the Blues, inspired by a stunning free-kick from former Schalke academy graduate Sane, was also the first time in three years that City have recovered from a goal down to win a Champions League away game.
You all know by now that we fight 'til the end! 💙#mancity pic.twitter.com/hmYg5U3aRg
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 20, 2019
Ironically, that was also a game against German opposition - with Borussia Monchengladbach put to the sword on that occasion in a 4-2 City win.
The Citizens will feel confident they can hold on to their advantage, particularly given the form of Aguero, whose goal was his 10th goal in his last seven games in all competitions. He also leads the goalscoring charts for 2019 across Europe's top five leagues, having scored 11 times already.
Source: 90min
