Man City prevent unprecedented comeback in game with nine goals

Sunday, December 26, 2021 at 5:50 PM• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 17:56

Manchester City have three points left on Sunday from a spectacular game against Leicester City. The Premier League leaders took a 4-0 lead in no time and looked to be in for a carefree afternoon, but the visitors surprisingly came back to 4-3 after the break. In the end, Manchester City scored twice more: 6-3. It was the most productive game in England on Boxing Day since Oldham Athletic – Manchester United (3-6) in 1991. The win put Pep Guardiola’s side six points ahead of Liverpool, who still have one game to go.

Manchester City, with Nathan Ake on the bench, made no mistake about the intentions. The home team looked for the attack from the first moment and was already leading 4-0 after 26 minutes. A fine attack in the fifth minute resulted in Kevin De Bruyne’s opening goal: the attacker was reached in the penalty area by a bow from Fernandinho, turned easily past defender Jannik Vestergaard and found the left corner. After reviewing video footage of Youri Tielemans being held at Aymeric Laporte, referee Chris Kavanagh concluded that Manchester City deserved a penalty, which was convincingly used by Riyad Mahrez against his former club.

The 3-0 came after twenty minutes from Ilkay Gundogan, who was able to finish from close range because keeper Kasper Schmeichel could not control the ball after a cross from João Cancelo. Shortly before that, Leicester City had hit the bar when Ederson saved a free kick from James Maddison. Midway through the first half, Manchester City received another penalty, again after a foul by Tielemans. Raheem Sterling went to the ground, claimed the penalty himself and found the top right corner. In the second half, however, the game changed completely. Leicester came all the way back into the game by scoring three goals in the first twenty minutes after the break.

Ten minutes after the break, Laporte slipped in midfield, allowing Leicester to break out quickly and Maddison to make it 4-1. Moments later, Leicester even made it 4-2; this time, Ademola Lookman was the end station of a counterpunch. Kelechi Iheanacho provided the assist on both goals and took the 4-3 himself. Shortly after Leicester defender Daniel Amartey busted a header from Fernandinho into the crossbar, the visitors switched: Maddison’s shot hit the crossbar via Ederson, after which the rebound was for Iheanacho. The fans held their breath for a while, but Laporte headed in the 5-3 after a corner from Mahrez. Another corner from Mahrez led to a header from Ruben Días and a subsequent striker from Sterling: 6-3.