THIS was not how Pep Guardiola dreamed of bringing up his century.
The Manchester City boss admitted on Monday there have been more disappointments than good moments in his 99 games in charge in this competition.
Well here was another one as he reached another landmark – and this one was all of his own making.
Despite claiming this was a crucial game in their pursuit of a place in the top eight, he made TEN changes to his starting line-up.
And as a result they were beaten at home in the group stage for the first time since September 2018 – 23 matches ago.
Not even the introduction of Erling Haaland with just under half an hour to go could save them this time.
Even though they conceded seven against PSG last month, Bayer Leverkusen are an improved team since Kasper Hjulmund took charge In September.
Goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick gave the Germans the points – and Guardiola now has a bit of a headache.
They face old rivals Real Madrid in the Bernabeu in two weeks. Lose there and they could be staring at the play-offs again – just like last year.
Guardiola’s wholesale changes were a surprise given they have relegation strugglers Leeds here on Saturday – which looked a more obvious opportunity to shake things up.
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Leverkusen are on the march in their domestic league and the concerns among the Etihad faithful were well founded early on as their new look team struggled to get any intensity.
They could have had an early goal when Nathan Ake’s scooped effort was turned away smartly by Mark Flekken.
The former Brentford keeper has had some of his best performances against City in the past – and looked full of confidence here.
His team were looking a threat on the break with Rayan Ait-Nouri throwing himself in the way of a shot by Ernest Poku.
But the reprieve was shortlived as Ibrahim Maza got away down the right and picked out Christian Kofane in the centre.
He laid it into the path of Alejandro Grimaldo who steered a low shot through a couple of defenders and beyond stand in keeper James Trafford.
City tried to rally themselves but Flekken stuck out a leg to keep out a cross shot by Oscar Bobb then kept out a low effort from Tijjani Reijnders.
But it had been a flat first half by the home side and the boss had seen enough.
At half-time he threw on Phil Foden, Nico O’Reilly and Jeremy Doku at the break in a bid to inject some much needed life into his team.
Yet while there was more attacking threat as a result, they looked vulnearable on the break.
And within 10 minutes of the restart the visitors doubled their lead with Maza again providing the cross.
This time Czech forward Patrik Schick got ahead of Nathan Ake and steered his header into the corner.
There was only one thing for it now – Pep had to call Haaland off the bench just after the hour mark to try to save the day.
He ran onto Foden’s pass and looked a certain scorer but Flekken read it perfectly and kept him out.
hen the Norwegian forward skied another effort when you’d have expected him to hit the target as frustration grew around the stadium.
Flekken made another flying stop to deny another sub, Rayan Cherki, as City’s hopes of a late comeback fizzled out.
That’s back to back defeats now for City – when normally you expect them to go through the gears at this stage.
