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Sergio Agüero on a missed penalty against Edouard Mendy
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Shaun Botterill / Getty Images
Manchester City missed the premature championship in the Premier League.
The league leaders lost the top game of the 35th matchday at home 1: 2 (1: 0) against Chelsea.
The lead over city rivals Manchester United is still 16 points, but United has played two games less.
Should United's game at Aston Villa be lost on Sunday, City's championship would be certain.
Man City against Chelsea, that was also the duel between coaches Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel - and a kind of run-up to the Champions League final on May 29th. In it, both teams meet again after they prevailed in their semi-finals against Paris Saint-Germain (City) and Real Madrid (Chelsea) during the week.
The game in Manchester seemed to be dominated by those semi-finals.
Because both coaches changed their starting XI in several positions, at City there were even nine changes compared to the PSG game.
Great opportunities were accordingly rare, and the hosts used their first to take the lead: Gabriel Jesus prevailed on the far right against Chelsea's Andreas Christensen and served Sergio Agüero, but he couldn't get the ball under control.
Raheem Sterling took advantage of this by stepping in and shooting the ball into the goal (44th minute).
Agüero's Panenka-style penalty fails
Less than a minute later, after a foul on Gabriel Jesus, a penalty kick was awarded to 32-year-old Agüero.
He tried a Panenka penalty, so he lifted the ball into the middle of the goal, expecting goalkeeper Edouard Mendy to jump into a corner.
Mendy actually took a step into the right corner, but then realized what Agüero was up to - he straightened up quickly and casually intercepted the shot (45th + 2).
Instead of the possible preliminary decision, Chelsea later equalized when Hakim Ziyech scored the 1-1 from the edge of the box after Rodri lost the ball (63rd minute).
Marcos Alonso scored the winning goal in stoppage time (90 + 2).
While Manchester will hardly be able to take the title despite the defeat, the three points were important for Chelsea, the Tuchel team is fighting for qualification for the Champions League.
With the win, the Blus improved to third place (64 points).
Incidentally, there had already been a duel between Tuchel's Chelsea and Guardiolas City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
And there, too, the Londoners prevailed (1-0).
The final of the premier class will be the third game between the two stratrainers and their teams.
mon / dpa
