Sadio Mane's hat-trick ensured Manchester City will face Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final on the back of a painful 4-2 defeat at Southampton on Sunday.
Already frustrated at being forced to play this game three days before the trip to the Bernabeu when his side will attempt to build on a scoreless first leg, City manager Manuel Pellegrini's mood will have only darkened from the moment Shane Long put Southampton on course for a resounding victory.
The loss leaves Pellegrini's men in fourth place, four points ahead of Manchester United who have a game in hand, and while City striker Kelechi Iheanacho scored twice, there were few positives for the visitors ahead of next week's decisive clash in Madrid.
Pellegrini, who had contrasted the authorities' unwillingness to move the game forward with the approach taken in other countries, made eight changes to the side that faced Real at Eastlands last Tuesday, with only Joe Hart, Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho starting both games. And the evidence of the first half suggested City's thoughts were elsewhere, despite the need to secure their place in the top four.
Iheanacho worked hard to maintain a threat up front and the youngster's efforts overshadowed those of Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Bony who offered little before the break. But Pellegrini's main concerns will be the performance of his back four, with the central defensive pairing of Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala struggling to contain Long, while left-back Aleksandar Kolarov did little to suggest he should start in the Bernabeu. Long had already twice exposed the City backline before the home side went ahead, first when he allowed Otamendi to make a covering tackle and then again when he fired into the side-netting after getting behind Mangala.
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