Bayern Munich vs Manchester City: Player Ratings and Man of the Match

Well, what a kick to the balls that was! After Bayern Munich dominated Manchester City for most of the game, playing a man down from the 20th minute on, but made City appear to be short a player, theories are flying about what caused the collapse, and the uncharacteristic mental mistakes that led to all three goals.

Here are the candidates for Man of the Match:

Jérôme Boateng

The German international was playing like a boss the entire game, looking solid in the back, stopping multiple promising City attacks, initiating attacks of his own from the defensive line, playing fancy long passes and crosses to his teammates, including the one into the box at the end of the first half, that Robert Lewandowski shouldered over Joe Hart and into the goal for a shocking 2-1 lead. He was in the lead for Man of the Match until he had his now uncharacteristic Boafart, turning the ball over to Aguero for the losing goal, instead of just clearing it. Other than that one mistake, he played a flawless game.

Xabi Alonso

Another leading candidate for MotM, until his inexplicable risky pass back across the line, which was intercepted and turned into the game-tying goal by Aguero. He was omni-present, as usual, helping out in the back on many occasions, controlling Bayern's passing game in the middle of the field, and scoring the 1-1 equalizing goal on a free kick that Joe Hart probably wants back. Unlike Boateng, however, Alonso did have a few errant passes throughout the game, but none came back to burn Bayern like the one in the 85th minute.

Arjen Robben

Ho hum, what else is new? Robben was a terror for City's defense all night, constantly twisting them around with his dribblings, and causing all sorts of confusion when interchanging flanks with Franck Ribéry, or overloading sides with the Frenchman. He didn't have a goal, but created chances, and made some nice passes to his teammates (to Sebastian Rode in the 9th minute, cross to Rafinha in the 20th). He got a little greedy in the 65th minute, when he took a shot that probably should have been handed off to one of his open teammates, but the defensive work more than made up for that.

Franck Ribéry

The Frenchman is slowly rounding into his old form. He doesn't quite have the top speed yet that he uses to blow by opponents, but he's got enough to cause problems for defenders, and, as usual, his touch and movement is very strong. He was effective all game long, until coming out for Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 81st minute. His give and go with Lewandowski caused the foul that led to Alonso's free kick goal.

Manuel Neuer

The Germany keeper was at his usual high level, parrying everything but the well-taken penalty kick by Aguero (and he wasn't too far from that one either) for the first 85 minutes. He stoned Jesus Navas in the 50th minute, and parried Frank Lampard's bomb over the crossbar in the 70th. He really can't be blamed for Aguero's goals in the 2nd half, as the Argentinian is a world-class striker, and he was allowed to waltz in alone on Neuer, but how nice would it have been to steal at least one of those?

Well, who do you think deserves Man of the Match?  Vote below.