Manchester City 1-1 Celtic Results & Highlights (Iheanacho cancels out Roberts opener in eventful first half)

Kelechi Iheanacho equalises for Manchester City  (REUTERS)

Pep Guardiola wanted to get a good look at his young Manchester City players last night, although it ended up being one on the opposite side who will have caught his eye. 

Patrick Roberts has been on loan at Celtic since January after joining City from Fulham the previous summer in a projected £11 million transfer. It is somewhat ironic that his first start at the Etihad Stadium should come against his parent club but the England Under-20 winger needed just four minutes to show Guardiola what he is all about. If Roberts is angling for a move back to City next summer, a fine run and finish was not a bad way to go about things. 

In fact, it was a good night all round for City’s young slickers, with Kelechi Iheanacho cancelling out Roberts’s strike with a rather classy one of his own to provide a timely reminder to Guardiola of his talents with Sergio Agüero ruled out of the next four Premier League matches through suspension.

MATCH HIGHLIGHT

If this was a chance for Guardiola to give some of his youngsters an airing, it was also a welcome opportunity for the City manager to rest his star names ahead of the visit to champions Leicester City on Saturday evening. Leroy Sané was the only survivor from the side that started against Chelsea at the weekend, and while one of those 10 changes was enforced with Fernandinho suspended after his dismissal in the previous Champions League match against Borussia Mönchengladbach, Iheanacho was given the nod here over Agüero. 

Celtic had taken an early lead at Parkhead in that thrilling 3-3 draw in September and it was the same again here as City were caught napping. Sané could not control a poor pass out by goalkeeper Willy Caballero, Celtic intercepted, Roberts collected possession and set off inside, sweeping past Gaël Clichy before curling a shot into the far corner, albeit with a slight deflection off Tosin Adarabioyo. 

Four minutes later and City were level. Ilkay Gündogan fed Nolito, who thread a ball through for Iheanacho to chase. Surging away from the lumbering figure of Jozo Simunovic, Iheanacho fired nonchalantly into the top corner.

It was not shaping up to be a good night for defenders with both sides getting behind each other far too easily. Nolito found Pablo Zabaleta, reinventing himself here as a maraudering box-to-box midfielder, with a wonderful first time pass. Zabaleta’s measured pass into the path of Iheanacho was a peach, too, and really deserved better than to be sliced horribly wide. 

That said, Moussa Dembélé should also have done better when slipped in by James Forrest after the Celtic winger had floated past three City defenders with embarrassing ease. These were tough beginnings for Adarabioyo, making his first start in the Champions League for City. He had hurt himself early on when he landed awkwardly after challenging Dembélé for the ball and his movement was briefly restricted afterwards, which helped to explain how Dembélé evaded his attentions only to be wrongly ruled offside as he forced a save from Caballero. 

Iheanacho was later denied with a back-heel from close range. It was a chaotic if lively affair.Both teams had chances to win it in the second half. Nolito found the net but was ruled offside from Jesus Navas’s cross, Sané flashed a free-kick wide and was also denied at close range while Leigh Griffiths, Mikael Lustig and Gary Mackay-Steven all spurned inviting chances for Celtic.

Atletico Madrid, Napoli and Monaco are among the guaranteed group winners City could face in the Champions League Round of 16 but they will be spared a meeting with Bayern Munich or Paris St-Germain who, like them, both finished as runners-up in their respective groups.