Man City 3-4

Telegraph:
Chelsea 3 Manchester City 4
Mark Ogden, in St Louis

There is nothing that American sports fans love more than a Comeback Kid, so Manchester City laid the perfect foundation for their move onto the US sporting landscape by overturning a 3-0 deficit to beat Chelsea 4-3 in St Louis.
City, having unveiled their $100m move into the MLS by securing the ownership of the New York City FC franchise earlier this week, may be an unknown quantity in a nation obsessed by baseball, basketball and gridiron.
But in front of a full Busch Stadium, City's second-half fightback - completed by Micah Richards's 92nd minute winner - will have done wonders for the club's brand recognition in the United States.
If they can repeat the excitement on Saturday, when they play Chelsea again at Yankee Stadium in New York, City might just have the Big Apple in the palm of their hand.
Despite the unusual timing of this end-of-season tour, interest in this game had seen over 10,000 fans turn out for Chelsea's training session in St Louis on Wednesday.
And with all 48,263 tickets for this game being sold out within 20 minutes of going on sale last month, the sense of occasion in Missouri ensured a lively game between Europa League winners Chelsea and Premier League runners-up City.
Both teams began with strong starting XIs and Chelsea were fortunate to go in 2-0 ahead at half-time, after weathering heavy City pressure, before scoring twice against the run of play.
City had gone close with the first chance of the game, when Sergio Aguero saw Petr Cech save from close range after the Argentine had been released by David Silva.
But seconds after that missed opportunity, City were behind when Demba Ba scored Chelsea's opener following a mistake by goalkeeper Joe Hart.
Hart, likely to play for England against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley next Wednesday, has endured a season of highs and lows, but he will be grateful that his latest error came in a meaningless friendly.
Juan Mata's cross should have been routine for Hart, but he came off his line and misjudged the flight of the ball, allowing Ba to head into the empty net from six yards.
City responded well, though, with Aguero hitting the post and Cech denying Yaya Toure with a fine low save on 26 minutes.
Chelsea, meanwhile, struggled to create chances, but they doubled their lead on 44 minutes after City youngster Karim Rekik was harshly judged to have given away a penalty with a foul on Mata.
There was little, if any, contact from the Dutch defender, but referee Jorge Gonzalez pointed to the penalty spot, enabling Cesar Azpilicueta to score Chelsea's second goal.
City did not deserve to be 2-0 down, but they then found themselves even further behind early in the second-half when Oscar rounded substitute goalkeeper Richard Wright to extend Chelsea's lead.
Perhaps feeling the strain of a long season, however, Chelsea allowed City to claw themselves back into the game 10 minutes later when Javi Garcia scored from close range past substitute goalkeeper Jamal Blackman.
And when Edin Dzeko scored a second for City one minute later, after being freed by James Milner, an unlikely comeback appeared to be on the cards.
The inevitable equaliser came six minutes from full-time, when Dzeko beat Blackman with a first-time shot from 12 yards following Carlos Tevez's crisp pass to the Bosnian.
But just as a remarkable draw seemed the most likely outcome, Richards scored an injury-time winner with a close range tap-in from Garcia's knock-down to cap a stunning win for City.
If their MLS team can perform as dramatically as this, City will quickly gain the recognition in the US that their Abu Dhabi hierarchy crave.

Team details:
Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Cech; Azpilicueta, Ivanovic, Cahill, Christensen; Mikel; Mata, Benayoun, Loftus-Cheek, Cole; Ba
Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Rekik, Clichy; Garcia, Y Toure; Rusnak, Tevez, Silva; Aguero
Referee: Jorge Gonzalez

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Mail:

Manchester City 4 Chelsea 3: Rafa's Blues let three-goal lead slip in St Louis special
By Ian Ladyman

In an interview published in England this morning, Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano said that his club will move in to the future playing attractive football and winning football.
Here in America’s mid-west, they managed both in this thrilling friendly fixture as they came from three down to grab a hugely entertaining victory at the St Louis Cardinals’ splendid Busch Stadium.
To say that City – coached by Brian Kidd in the wake of Roberto Mancini’s sacking – were the better team here would be an understatement. They played some terrific football in front of 48,263 people, especially in the opening half, and created a dozen good chances over the course of the 90 minutes.
The recently deposed Barclays Premier League champions had lost that winning habit in recent times, though, and somehow found themselves three goals behind inside an hour as Chelsea struck through Demba Ba, Cesar Azpilicueta and the Brazilian Oscar.
With 27 minutes left, City were still trailing by three but two strikes in a minute midway from Javi Garcia and Eden Dzeko breathed fresh life in to their challenge and they eventually earned a remarkable win thanks to an equaliser from their big Bosnian striker with five minutes left and a winner from defender Micah Richards right at the death.
By the end, Chelsea – still coached by interim manager Rafael Benitez – looked rather shell-shocked and it would have been easy to overlook the fact that this was just a post-season friendly.
Nevertheless they do have a rematch at New York’s Yankee Stadium on Saturday and we can only hope it is as absorbing as this.
The first half 15 minutes of the game in front of a good crowd saw City dominate. Sergio Aguero had the ball in the net in the third minute after a Carlos Tevez pass but he was ruled offside. Then the same player was foiled by Petr Cech after a cushioned header from Gael Clichy at the far post set him up.
This was, as it transpired, to be the story of Aguero’s evening. The South American was full of running but had no luck. In the 14th minute, for example, he was played in cleverly by David Silva but Cech was sharp once again to save with his foot at the near post.
At this stage, Chelsea had barely ventured outside of their own half. Out of nothing, though, they scored.
Juan Mata’s cross was as hopeful as anything the talented Spaniard will ever hit but Joe Hart’s rush from the City goal smacked of a goalkeeper who wasn’t really concentrating and, when he got nowhere near the ball, Demba Ba headed Chelsea in to the lead.
It was a dreadful goal to concede and Hart was right to look sheepish. City’s response, meanwhile, was positive but still they couldn’t score as Aguero struck a post from distance, Yaya Toure was denied superbly by Cech and then Aguero – who else? – spurned two more chances.
With the crowd thoroughly entertained, City kept pressing but, peculiarly, it was Chelsea who went in at half-time two goals to the good. Mata seemed to go down rather easily under the challenge of young City defender Karim Rekik but a penalty was awarded and full-back Azpilicueta scored low to Hart’s left.
Both teams made a number of changes at half-time and Chelsea looked to have wrapped up the game when substitute Oscar rounded City reserve ‘keeper Richard Wright to score in to an empty net in the 54th minute.
Finally, however, City managed to find a route to goal and two goals in the space of a minute brought the crowd to life.
Garcia – who had such a disappointing first season at City - was first to pull a goal back with an instinctive shot from 12 yards in the 63rd minute. Chelsea goalkeeper Jamal Blackman had only just come on and the first thing he did was retrieve the ball from the back of his net.
Then, less than 60 seconds later, Dzeko ran on to a superb ball from James Milner to score City’s second and leave them chasing what transpired to be an unlikely win.
Certainly there were chances as young Blackman saved well from Milner at the far post and then from Dzeko. City’s Bosnian striker also headed another opportunity over the bar from a corner.
Just as it looked as though time would run out on them, however, Dzeko was played in by the excellent Tevez to score first time across Blackman with five minutes left and then, in the 90th minute, Richards appeared unmarked to volley in after Garcia had headed down a cross.
Up in the stands chief executive Soriano will have approved.

CHELSEA (4-1-4-1): Cech (Blackman 61mins); Azpilicueta (Ferreira 45mins), Ivanovic (Luiz 45mins), Cahill (Ramires 45mins) , Christensen; Mikel; Mata (Oscar 45mins), Benayoun, Loftus-Cheek (Ake 80mins), Cole; Ba (Torres 45mins)
Goals: Ba 14, Azpilicueta 45 (pen), Oscar 53

MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1): Hart (Wright 45mins); Zabaleta (Maicon 62mins), Kompany (Richards 45mins), Rekik (Boyata 80mins), Clichy; Garcia, Y Toure (Huws 45mins); Rusnak (Milner 62mins) , Tevez, Silva (Nasri 45mins); Aguero (Dzeko 45mins)
Goals:Garcia 63, Dzeko 64, 85, Richards 90

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Mirror:

Manchester City 4-3 Chelsea: Kidd's men thrill 48,000 St Louis sell-out by fighting back from three goals down
From David McDonnell in St Louis
 
Micah Richards' last-minute goal wins first of Premier League duo's US double-header - a match Londoners lead 3-0 despite being completely outplayed

  
Manchester City completed a remarkable second-half comeback here in the American Mid-West to win the first game of their post-season double-header with Chelsea.
City trailed Chelsea 3-0 after 53 minutes but staged an extraordinary revival, plundering four goals in 27 minutes, with Micah Richards scoring the winner in the 90 minute to complete the incredible turnaround.
Managerless City looked to be on their way to a sound beating when they trailed 3-0 through goals from Demba Ba, Cesar Azpilicueta and Oscar, despite having outplayed Chelsea.
But City managed to drag themselves back from the brink to seal the unlikeliest of wins, with Javier Garcia scoring to set them on their way, before Edin Dzeko found the net twice and Richards plundered the winner.
With both managers, Chelsea interim coach Rafa Benitez and City caretaker boss Brian Kidd, taking charge of their penultimate games before the arrival of their permanent successors, little should be read into this result in what was no more than an exhibition match.
But City showed impressive resolve to come from behind and win ahead of Saturday's second and final Stateside game between the two sides at Yankee Stadium in New York.
Ba put Chelsea ahead in the 14th minute, heading the ball in from Juan Mata's cross after Joe Hart took the concept of a friendly to the extreme in coming off his line and flapping at thin air.
Despite that setback, City played with a flair and verve that could have yielded them at least three goals, Sergio Aguero hitting the frame of the Chelsea goal in the 14 minute with a thumping shot.
Petr Cech denied Yaya Toure, whose goal-bound shot on the turn was palmed away by the Chelsea keeper, while Carlso Tevez sent an overhead kick just over the bar from the resulting corner.
Yaya Toure forced another impressive save from Cech five minutes before the break with an improvised toe-poke that was on target, as City upped the tempo in search of an equaliser.
But in the final minute of the half, Chelsea were awarded a penaltywhen young City defender Karim Rekik was judged – somewhat harshly – to have brought down Mata inside the box.
Replays of the incident suggested Mata made the most of the minimal contact between him and Rekik, but Cesar Azpilicueta stepped up to convert the spot-kick beyond Hart for a 2-0 lead.
Chelsea added a third goal after 53 minutes when substitute Oscar got away from Rekik and rolled the ball beyond Richard Wright, who made his City debut coming on for Hart at half-time.
City pulled a goal back in the 63rd minute, Javier Garcia applying an assured finish from eight yards out, with substitute Edin Dzeko adding a second in quick succession two minutes later.
Chelsea should have been awarded a penalty with 20 minutes left when Wright brought down Ramires, but ref Jorge Gonzalez failed to spot the blatant foul by the City keeper.
Substitute James Milner came close to making it 3-3 with a volleyed effort at the far post in the 73 minute, but was denied by a fine reflex stop from Chelsea's substitute keeper Jamal Blackman.
Blackman, a 19-year-old FA Youth Cup winner with Chelsea, came to his side's rescue again two minutes later, keeping out with his feet a goal-bound effort from Dzeko.
But Blckman couldn't make it third time lucky, as Tevez found Dzeko in the 85 minute and the Bosnia striker steered the ball beyond the reach of the Chelsea keeper to make it 3-3.
And there was nothing Blackman could do to keep out the winner from Richards, who met Garcia's header back across the goal, guiding the ball into the net on the volley for the victory.
Organisers of the match donated $48,263 – one dollar for every ticket sold – to help those affected by the tornado that devastated Oklahoma earlier this week.
Before kick-off, both teams lined up behind a banner proclaiming support for those whose lives have been blighted by the tragedy, which left at least 24 people dead.
Both sides also wore black armbands as a mark of respect to soldier Lee Rigby, from Middleton in Manchester, who was murdered in Woolwich on Wednesday.
After the game, City caretaker boss Kidd said: "I thought we were unlucky to go in two down. The response was tremendous. They've had a couple of tough weeks with losing the manager and losing the FA Cup Final.
 "It's been draining and emotional. They have done great work with events in New York and  have only had one training session. Maybe that's the secret. You can't say enough about them.
 "They're very talented players. You have to say that. We were creating chances and this season we've created chances but not stuck them away. Tonight we managed to score in the second half.
Asked about Mancini's abrasive style, that was said to have caused divisions in the City dressing-room, Kidd added: "I don't really know about that. I never saw that, to be honest.
 "I was surprised [to hear allegations of tension]. You know what the boss was like. He was a good man and I never detected any of that. The boss had a lot of great attributes, like Sir Alex Ferguson, and can handle big players.
"They love high scoring games here. That's what sport is all about in America. So to see what happened late in this game, that's the excitement they crave. I have great friends here so I was pleased. The game was sold out in next to no time and they got their money's worth.

Chelsea Cech (Blackman, 61); Ivanovic (Ferreira, 46), Cahill (Luiz, 46), Christensen, Cole; Mikel, Loftus-Cheek (Ake, 80); Azpilicueta (Ramires, 46), Mata (Oscar, 46), Benayoun (Marin); Ba (Torres, 46)
Manchester City Hart (Wright, 46); Zabaleta (Maicon, 61), Kompany (Richards, 46), Rekik (Boyata, 80), Clichy, Garcia. Y Toure (Huws, 46); Rusnak (Milner, 61), Tevez, Silva (Nasri, 46); Aguero (Dzeko, 46)
Man of the Match Dzeko

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