Post-match Pep talk ...
“We started really well with 11 and then play one hour with 10 and we resist,” he tells BT Sport. “When we have the ball we are clever, we didn’t push too much. It’s a good point. Not mathematically but we are almost qualified for the next round and this is the main target.
On the VAR decisions for tweo handballs: “I didn’t see it,” he says. “Now we have to go to Dortmund and try to secure first position. We will travel back to Manchester immediately, tomorrow is a day off and then we prepare for Liverpool on Sunday.”
Match report: FC Copenhagen 0-0 Manchester City
Manchester City were as disjointed as they have been this season, yet still emerged with a draw against Copenhagen that all but secures qualification from Group G. Jamie Jackson reports from the Parken Stadium.
A word from Rodri ...
“Sometimes it’s like this, you have to live these kind of games,” he tells BT Sport. “The early red card made it difficult for the team but we fought until the end. We have chances: we scored a goal, they disallowed it. We miss a penalty and as I say, it’s difficult when it’s 10 against 11.”
On his disallowed first half worldie: “It’s a bit frustrating of course,” he says, with a shrug of his shoulders. “I think that nobody realised what happened and then suddenly it’s a handball. I don’t know if it was intentional or not but it is what it is. We respect the decision, then we have a penalty and we missed. Then the red card comes and it changes completely the game.”
Speaking of coupon-busters: In today’s other early kick-off, Maccabi Haifa have beaten Juventus 2-0 in Israel, although given the Italian side’s recent travails in Serie A and Europe, that isn’t as seismic a shock as you might think.
Full time: FC Copenhagen 0-0 Manchester City
Peep! Peep! Peeeeep! An early evening coupon-buster draws to a close with neither side producing a goal at the Parken Stadium. Copenhagen have held a City side that were reduced to 10 men with the dismissal of Sergio Gomez after 30 minutes. Due in no small part to the intercession of VAR, City missed a penalty and had a goal chalked off but remain top of Group G with 10 points, four points clear of Borussia Dortmund, who have played one game fewer, and eight points clear of COpenhagen in third.
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90+4 min: Valdemar Lund hacks the ball clear as City launch a last-ditch attack and that’s it.
90+2 min: Ruben Dias gets booked, somewhat harshly, for a late but fairly innocuous challenge.
90+1 min: Into added time with go, with Copenhagen’s crowd as vocal now as they were at the first whistle. They’ve been fantastic.
89 min: Copenhagen plug away in search of a winner with 10-man City apparently happy to settle for the draw at this late stage. Staminic lets fly with a low fizzing drive from outside the penalty area but sends his effort a couple of yards wide of the upright.
88 min: City substitution: Aymeric Laporte makes way for Nathan Ake, having got another decent stint into his legs after recovering from knee surgery.
83 min: Copenhagen try to play the ball out from the back but Valdemar Lund gives it away. City pounce and Joao Cancelo has a low shot turned around the upright by Copenhagen goalkeeper Grabara. Nothing comes of the set piece.
82 min: A decidedly uneventful second half enters its final 10 minutes with the deadlock unbroken. Markus Stamenic gets booked for reacting petulantly after being penalised for a foul by the referee. He’ll miss Copenhagen’s next game.
80 min: Copenhagen substitution: Kevin Diks on for central defender Davit Khocholava.
79 min: Kamila Grabara comes out of his penalty area to head a long ball from deep clear under pressure from Joao Cancelo.
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77 min: Manchester City double-substitution: Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva on for Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne.
75 min: Akanji falls awkwardly after contesting a high ball with Kristiiansen. Play is paused so he can receive treatment.
73 min: Victor Kristiansen curls a wonderful cross around Dias towards the far post and Johannesson looks a certainty to score as he steals in unmarked behind the City defence. He stretches every sinew but fails to make contact under pressure from the onrushing Ederson. Copenhagen’s best chance of the game so far goes to waste.
71 min: Good play from Copenhagen, who are going all out in search of a winner. City currently have 10 men behind the ball as their hosts probe and press in their search for an opening.
68 min: Elsewhere in the Parken Stadium, Leeds-born Norwegian Erling Haaland has left the city dug-out and is warming up.
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66 min: While I say Joey Gudjonsson’s son is Icelandic, he was actually born in Sutton Coldfield, which makes him a Brummie. He has, however, made 15 senior appearances for Iceland despite being a mere stripling of 19.
64 min: City win a corner, which is taken by Jack Grealish. He sends the ball towards Ruben Dias, who fails to make clean contact. His header loops up in the air and spirals wide.
63 min: City win a free-kick just inside their own half and get the ball forward. Grealish miscontrols and loses it prompting another unsuccessful sortie upfield from Copenhagen.
58 min: Copenhagen substitution: Isak Johannesson on for Hakon Haraldsson. It’s one Icelandic teenager on for another and the one who has just come on is the son of Joey Gudjonsson, who played for Aston Villa, Wolves, Leicester City and Burnley, among other clubs.
57 min: Grealish stays on his feet on this occasion and plays in De Bruyne. From a tight angle, he finds the side-netting.
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56 min: Copenhagen’s players are fouling Jack Grealish on rotation every time he gets the ball and the City winger is getting fed up. He turns to the referee holding up four fingers to signify the number of times he thinks he’s been fouled and wonders aloud in the strongest possible terms why nobody has been booked for any of these assaults on his person.
55 min: Ilkay Gundogan gives the ball away halfway inside his own half and Marko Stamenic, a New Zealand international, advances. He tries a shot from distance but pulls a harmless low effort well wide.
54 min: Deramy tries another scuttle in around the byline under pressure from Ruben Dias but eventually runs out of road and falls over.
51 min: Kevin De Bruyne tries his luck with a curled shot from distance which Grabera saves fairly comfortably.
49 min: Copenhagen have started very confidently and Lerager has a cross from the right intercepted. Moments later, Deramy gets in behind Rodri to the byline and pulls the ball back into the penalty area, where Ruben Dias clears for another corner. Akanji thumps the inswinger clear with a firm header.
48 min: Copenhagen win a corner, Rodri putting the ball out of play under pressure. Haraldsson’s delivery is dreadful and the ball curls into the side-netting.
Second half: FC Copenhagen 0-0 Manchester City
46 min: Copenhagen get the ball rolling, with no further changes on either side. A reminder that Manchester City brought on Ruben Dias when Sergio Gomez was sent off, with Riyad Mahrez taking on the role of sacrificial lamb.
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BT Sport: Owen Hargreaves is a pundit for this game and has been getting stuck into the referee and his Video Assistant Ref for what he sees as their dreadful decisions in disallowing Rodri’s goal and awarding Manchester City a penalty. I’m afraid that it is in the direction of football’s rule-makers he should be aiming his potshots. The match officials have apllied the handball laws – as they are currently written – 100% correctly in this game.
A quick recap: After Ederson came perilously close to scoring a comedy own goal that would have haunted him to the grave, Rodri had a splendid opener ruled out for a totally accidental Riyad Mahrez handball in the build-up.
VAR intervened again, prompting the referee to award City a penalty for a Boilesen handball at a City corner, but Mahrez’s spot-kick was saved splendidly by Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabera.
At the other end of the pitch, Sergio Gomez thought he’d got away with illegally preventing a clear goalscoring opprotunity for Hakon Haraldsson, but another VAR intervention prompted Portuguese referee Artur Dias to consult his pitchside monitor for a third time and send off the Manchester City defender.
Half-time: FC Copenhagen 0-0 Manchester City
Peep: It’s half-time and an eventful opening 45 minutes dominated by VAR ends with Manchester City down to 10 men and the game scoreless.
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45+5: De Bruyne and Alvarez combine to infiltrate the Copenhagen penalty area and the Belgian has a shot deflected over off Davit Khocholava. Nothing comes from the corner.
45+3 min: Haraldsson shoots from outside the City penalty area but the 19-year-old’s effort fizzes a couple of yards wide.
45+2 min: Boilesen goes down with a loud scream after taking the full weight of Akanji on the back of his leg as they fell when the ball came in for a City corner. It was accidental and AKanji looked very concerned about his stricken rival but Boilesen is up and OK to continue after receiving treatment.
45+1 min: Into added time we go, with five minutes going up on the board to make up for all the time our referee spent consulting his pitchside monitor in this first half.
43 min: Boilesen is on hand to break up another City attack, intercepting a return pass from Gundogan to Alvarez inside the Copenhagen penalty area.
42 min: Copenhagen winger Mohammed Deramy goes down looking for a free-kick after a tussle with Manuel Akanji near the byline. He doesn’t get one and the ball rolls wide.
40 min: With their visitors down to 10 men and the home crowd, led by a cheerleader on loudspeaker, extremely raucous, FC Copenhagen are doing OK. They play their way upfield, beating City’s press but are unable to fashion anything in the way of a goalscoring opportunity.
37 min: De Bruyne has an attempted cross from the right blocked, then Gundogan takes up the cudgels when the ball breaks his way. He plays a crossfield ball towards Grealish, with help from Rodri but City are unable to forge an opening and are forced backwards.
36 min: Copenhagen defender Voldemar Lund is booked for a late challenge on Kevin De Bruyne.
34 min: It’s been a very eventful opening half-hour, much of which the referee has spent changing his mind after watching replays on his pitchside TV set.
33 min: Manchester City substitution: Ruben Dias comes on to make up the numbers in City’s defence and Riyad Mahrez is forced to make way.
Red card! Sergio Gomez is sent off!
31 min: Gomez gets an entirely justified red card and leaves the pitch without much complaint. Copenhagen have a free-kick right on the edge of the City penalty area. Haraldsson shoots straight into the City wall, wherethe ball is blocked by Manuel Akanji.
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29 min: After an eternity, ref Artur Dias trots to his pitchside monitor to watch that Gomez foul on Haraldsson. I suspect the Manchester City defender could be in big trouble here for stopping a clear goalscoring opportunity.
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27 min: Boilesen puts a stop to a Manchester City counter-attack and Copenhagen pour forward. Through on goal, Hakon Harnersson is brought down by Sergio Gomez on the edge of the penalty area but he doesn’t get a free-kick.
Mahrez's spot-kick is saved!
24 min: Kamil Grabara flings himself to his right to claw away Riyad Mahrez’s penalty kick and the deadlock remains unbroken. That’s a terrific save.
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PENALTY FOR MAN CITY!
20 min: Kevin De Bruyne has a shot high and wide for another City corner. Mahrez sends in an inswinger which Manuel Akanji almost but doesn’t quite steer towards goal. There might have been a handball there off Nicolai Boilesen. Ref Artur Dias trots to his pitchside monitor and I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t award a spot-kick. The ball hit Boilesen’s outstretched arm as he tried to stop Akanji heading it.
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19 min: Lukas Lerager is teed up outside the City penalty area and sends a shot arrowing towards goal. It’s on target, possibly on course to hit the cross-bar, but Ederson tips it over..
Gary has spoken. And he’s right – it is important to remember this is not a VAR issue, it’s a handball law issue. But it’s also important to remember that the reason the handball laws have become so absurd is because they’re constantly being tinkered with because of VAR.
A stunning goal by Rodri ruled out through the absurdity of the current handball law.
— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) October 11, 2022
15 min: So, the game remains scoreless despite Rodri’s superb strike. Victor Claesson and Sergio Gomez go to ground after a mid-air collision, with the Coipenhagen winger holding his head. They’re both passed fit to continue.
VAR! GOAL DISALLOWED!
Referee Artur Dias goes to check his pitchside monitor for a possible handball by Riyad Mahrez in the build-up to the goal. A bouncing ball ball brushed his hand before Alvarez teed up Rodri. That’s harsh but “letter of the law” and all that …
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GOAL! FC Copenhagen 0-1 Manchester City (Rodri 11)
Rodri scores with a wonderful strike! Standing outside the penalty area, he’s teed up by Alvaraz and swishes his right foot through the ball to send it arrowing into the top corner.
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9 min: CIty enjoy a sustained period of keep ball, their back four and midfield players pinging the ball hither and yon just inside the Copenhagen half. It’s quite hypnotic … until Rodri gives it away.
6 min: Grealish breaks upfield on the counter and plays the ball left to Julian Alvaraz. He pulls the ball across the face of goal and masked Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabera touches it wide of his far post. Inexplicably, referee Artur Dias awards a goal-kick. That was a good save from Grabara, who was man of the match in his side’s 5-0 reverse at the hands of City last week.
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3 min: Wearing a maroon kit that makes it difficult to distinguish him from his teammates in red and black, Ederson misfields a backpass and comes perilously close to scoring a howler of an own goal. Corner for Copenhagen. Nothing comes of it.
2 min: A dipping Kevin De Bruyne cross to the far post is deflected out for a corner. It was a crucial touch as it took the ball away from the head of Ilkay Gundogan, who was lurking with intent.
1 min: With six players on their team aged 20 or under, this is a dauinting task for FC Copenhagen. One of their youngsters, 19-year-old Elias Jelert concedes an early free-kick for a late challenge on Jack Grealish.
FC Copenhagen v Manchester City is go ...
1 min: Manchester City kick off, with captain Ilkay Gundogan having won the toss. Their players wear black and red shirts, black shorts and black socks. The players of FC Copenhagen wear white shirts, shorts and socks.
Not long now: The teams are led out on to the Parken pitch by referee Artur Dias and his team of match officials, with the stands a sea of blue and white. Both sets of players line up for the Champions League anthem and kick-off is just a few pre-match formalities and a couple of minutes away.
Pep’s pre-match thoughts: BT Sport ask him how much the weekend fixture against Liverpool influenced his selection of a line-up with five changes from the Southampton game. “Nothing,” he says. “The guys who have been playing are tired, they are fatigued. That’s why we put fresh legs.”
He’s asked how Erling Haaland took the news that he’d be on the bench. “I didn’t speak with him,” says Pep. “I don’t give to my players the decisions we take or the reasons why. They will not understand it because they want to play all the time.” He goes on to add that he wants Julian Alvarez to “be himself because he’s an exceptional player.”
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Those teams: Despite scoring 20 goals from 13 starts since joining Manchester City, Erling Haaland drops to the bench, presumably as punishment for the slump in form that yielded a miserable return of just one goal for the striker in City’’s 4-0 win over Southampton at the weekend. Julian Alvarez steps up in the front three, alongside Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez. Aymeric Laporte returned to partner Manuel Akanji in central defence, with Joao Cancelo and Sergio Gomez in the full-back roles.
Copenhagen manager Jacob Neestrup makes two changes to the team that drew against Nordsjælland last time out. Valdemar Lund Jensen and Nicolai Boilesen come into his side.
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FC Copenhagen v Manchester City line-ups
FC Copenhagen: Grabara, Lund Jensen, Khocholava, Boilesen, Jelert, Stamenic, Lerager, Kristiansen, Claesson, Arnar Haraldsson, Daramy.
Subs: Diks, Sorensen, Johannesson, Mukairu, Johnsson, Ankersen, Bardghji, Clem, Ryan.
Manchester City: Ederson, Joao Cancelo, Akanji, Laporte, Gomez, Rodri, Gundogan, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Grealish, Alvarez.
Subs: Dias, Ake, Haaland, Ortega, Bernardo Silva, Carson, Foden, Palmer, Lewis, Wilson-Esbrand.
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Jacob Neestrup speaks: “City will undoubtedly have a lot of possession again but hopefully we will have more sequences where we have the ball on our own feet,” said the Copenhagen manager. “Here it is important that we are a little calmer on the ball, because that way we can also take away four to five per cent of their possession and have a slightly closer game than last time. And then we play in Parken in front of our own fans, and of course that also makes a difference. We’ve looked at some of the things we can do better, and at the same time it’s also about limiting what they’re good at.”
Pre-match Pep: “We play one week later and they have pride and they want to perform,” he says of facing Copenhagen in back-to-back Champions League fixtures. “But at the same time, we have a chance to conclude our qualification for the next stage and we are going to try tomorrow.”
Tonight’s match officials
Referee: Artur Dias
Assistant referees: Rui Tavares and Paulo Soares
Fourth official: Fabio Verissimo
Video Assistant Referee: Tiago Martins
Early team news ...
With a match against Liverpool to come on Sunday and qualification for the knockout stages all but assured, Pep Guardiola may decide to rest some of his first team staples tonight. Speculation abounds that he may rest Erling Haaland, news that would surely come as music to the ears of Copenhagen’s players, if not the player himself. City are definitely without injured duo Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips, while John Stones is also unlikely to feature because of a hamstring injury. Aymeric Laporte could also make his second start of the season in the heart of City’s defence as he ramps up to full fitness following knee surgery.
Copenhagen manager Jacob Neestrup has mounting injury woes and has eight players in total sidelined. Nigerian winger Akinkunmi Amoo and Portuguese captain Zeca remain absent, while defender Denis Vavro, striker Andreas Cornelius and midfielder Rasmus Falk are also among the lame and halt. Only seventh in the Danish league table after 12 games, Copenhagen drew 1-1 with leaders Nordsjælland at the weekend.
Group G: FC Copenhagen v Manchester City
Top of the group with maximum points from their three games, victory for Manchester City in Denmark tonight will guarantee them their place in the knockout rounds with two games to spare. The odds are very much in their favour, not least because they swatted Copenhagen aside with the bare minimum of fuss at the Etihad last week and their hosts are bottom of the group table with just one point. Kick-off at the Parken Stadium is at 5.45pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for all the team news and build-up.
