Manchester City 1-2 Basle (Agg 5-2): Pep Guardiola's side through to Champions League quarter-finals despite second-leg comeback win from the Swiss
- Manchester City through to Champions League last eight despite suffering fourth defeat of their season
- Gabriel Jesus tapped home early on after Leroy Sane broke through and Bernardo Silva played him in
- The visitors equalised shortly afterwards when Mohamed Elyounoussi slammed home inside the area
- Michael Lang put Basle ahead on the night with a fierce shot that beat Claudio Bravo at his near post
It didn't take long for Pep Guardiola to swallow the disappointment of a first home defeat since December 2016 and look forward to Manchester City's second appearance in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
This was never likely to be a game that mattered very much. City's four-goal lead from the first leg in Switzerland three weeks ago had rendered it little more than a dead rubber.
Guardiola had the rare luxury of putting out a weakened team in the last 16, and one that struggled to rouse itself on a subdued occasion at the Etihad.
Michael Lang slams the ball into the roof of Claudio Bravo's net at the near post to give Basle a surprise second-half lead
Basle full back Michael Lang celebrates after giving the visitors a shock second-half lead at the Etihad Stadium
Mohamed Elyounoussi brings the visiting Swiss side level in the 17th minute with a drilled shot from inside the penalty area
The Basle players head back towards the centre circle after getting their first goal of the two-legged tie on Wednesday
Gabriel Jesus gives Manchester City an eighth minute lead on the night after he is found at the back post by Bernardo Silva
The Brazilian striker celebrates by sinking to his knees after netting for the first time in 13 games, since November 18
Gabriel Jesus put City ahead on the night and out of sight on aggregate before Basle hit back to hand Guardiola only his fourth defeat of the season.
It's not what he likes to see, and these kind of mistakes will punished by better teams in the latter stages of the competition.
But it will be a different City then and a different performance, Guardiola assured us.
'This kind of position is not going to happen in the quarter-finals, where you are 4-0 from the first leg,' he said. 'When it will be scary to go out, the rhythm will be completely different.
'People will think the way we played, we are not able to fight to go through. We will see. We're going to forget. This is the second time we reached quarter-finals in history, and that is good news.'
It wasn't the usual fluid City performance despite the promptings of Leroy Sane and Phil Foden, who became the youngest Englishman to appear in the knockout stage.
The Premier League leaders were vulnerable at the back and increasingly impotent going forward. They actually completed a Champions League record 978 passes, but there wasn't enough quality for Guardiola's liking.
Manchester City youngster Phil Foden was making his second start in the competition as Pep Guardiola rang the changes
Basle midfielder Kevin Bua looks to evade the challenge of Manchester City's captain for the night Yaya Toure in the first-half
Manchester City winger Leroy Sane skips past the attempted challenge of Basle's Fabian Frei in the early stages
Basle defender Leo Lacroix sticks a leg out to deny Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva from finding a way through
Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan chases after Basle midfielder Serey Die and attempts to win the ball off him
German winger Leroy Sane attempts to ping a ball across goal as Basle right back Michael Lang tries to track back
Mohamed Elyounoussi is denied a second goal of the evening as Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo gets across
'In the second half, we forgot to attack and we forgot to play,' he added. 'Just to pass the ball to pass for itself is nothing and the second half was really, really poor.'
Gabriel Jesus was one of six players brought into the team and it took the Brazilian seven minutes to score his first goal since November – and City's 100th in the Champions League.
Leroy Sane was a constant threat on the left throughout, but on this occasion he cut inside and sliced through the Basle defence on a diagonal run before laying off the ball to Bernardo Silva on the opposite flank.
The Portugal winger steered a cross through the legs of not one but two defenders, Blas Riveros and Leo Lacroix, to Jesus who applied a simple finish at the far post.
Another Silva cross to the same spot should have brought a second goal but goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik sprang out of his goal to smother Ilkay Gundogan's first-time effort.
Basle were always looking to catch City on the break, and Geoffroy Serey Die had already beaten Oleksandr Zinchenko to John Stones's lazy pass and fired over before they equalised in the 17th minute.
Riveros burst down the left and again Stones could have done better as he failed to cut out his cross. The ball reached Mohamed Elyounoussi and he had time to size up a shot before ramming it inside Claudio Bravo's right-hand post.
Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo gets off his line and out of the area to clear the ball as Dimitri Oberlin closes in
Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus receives treatment form medical staff after taking a knock at the end of the first-half
Basle goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik makes himself big and stops Ilkay Gundogan's shot on target with his outstretched legs
Manchester City playmaker Bernardo Silva is denied as he tries to put the home side back ahead during the first-half
The away fans were in good voice and let off plenty of flares before kick-off at the Eithad Stadium on Wednesday night
It all went a little flat after that until City were punished with a second goal in the 71st minute.
Yaya Toure, who had looked sharp up to that point despite his lack of first-team action, tracked Elyounoussi's run into the box as the winger skipped past the disappointing Zinchenko.
Toure looked to have contained the threat until Elyounoussi turned away and played the ball into the path of Michael Lang, who had scored Basle's winner in a group game against Manchester United in November.
Aymeric Laporte had sensed the danger but didn't do enough about it. City's £57million signing failed to make a challenge and Lang fired the ball into the top corner from a tight angle.
The cameras panned to Guardiola on the bench and were met with a look of disbelief and disgust. He had warned his players about the perils of sloppy errors in Europe and they failed to heed his words.
His disappointment soon subsided, though. Greater challenges lie ahead for City now, and Guardiola knows they will be up for it next time.
A minute's silence was held ahead of kick-off to mark the sudden passing of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori on Sunday
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