Micah Richards admitted it is “back to the drawing board” for Manchester City after they were taught a Champions League lesson by Bayern Munich last night.
Franck Ribery, Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben gave the reigning champions a 3-1 win in the Group D clash, despite Alvaro Negredo’s fine consolation goal and Jerome Boateng’s dismissal.
Richards said: “We knew they’re a really good team and they showed that tonight, that’s why they’re champions.
“I though Ribery and Robben were excellent. They didn’t play with a striker as such and the movement in midfield was where the game was won.”
City’s defending was poor at times, with left-back Gael Clichy glaringly culpable for Muller’s goal and keeper Joe Hart twice beaten at his near post.
Richards added: “We tried. We’ve had a lot of games and there were a few tired legs tonight but we’re a lot better than that. It’s back to the drawing board now.”
Robben revelled in his side’s dominant performance and said: “It was very good, the first 70 or 80 minutes in particular we played terrific football.
“To be so dominant against such a big team, we didn’t expect an easy game like that. I think it’s also a big compliment to our team but I expected a bit more from City.”
It was Bayern’s second successive win to start their title defence, while they also have six wins and a draw from seven Bundesliga games.
City were joined on the three points mark by CSKA Moscow, who beat Viktoria Plzen 3-2 in the other game in the group.
Manchester United’s David Moyes was pleased to come away from Shakhtar Donetsk with a hard-earned point from a 1-1 Group A draw.
Danny Welbeck scored the opener in United’s second group match to give the visitors hope of becoming the only English team to beat the Ukrainian side at the Donbass Arena.
The Red Devils held on until the 76th minute before Vyacheslav Shevchuk grabbed an equaliser.
It denied Moyes a much-needed three points after a forgettable start to their Barclays Premier League campaign, but the Scot said: “It was a good point in the Champions League coming here, they’ve got a great record against English teams here.
“The team stood up well tonight, they got a good goal early doors and I thought we looked as if we were going to stop them scoring. We defended very well.”
The former Everton boss refused to get carried away, however, and insists they must continue to improve.
He added: “You have to win other games if we’re going to progress further in this competition.
“But I think on paper this looked a hard away tie and we’ve picked up a good point.”
Striker Wayne Rooney was absent from the clash after picking up a shin injury in training, with Moyes saying beforehand that the 27-year-old would have only been a substitute anyway.
United and Shakhtar lead the group with four points from their first two games with Bayer Leverkuen a point behind after an injury time goal from Jens Hegler earned the German side a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad.
Real Madrid are already four points clear in Group B after Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria both scored twice in an easy 4-0 home victory over FC Copenhagen.
Former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini took his new Galatasary side to Turin and earned a 2-2 draw with Juventus in the group’s other game, Didier Drogba among the scorers for the visitors.
Paris St Germain recorded their second win to top Group C after sweeping Benfica aside 3-0. Zlatan Ibrahimovic claimed a double either side of defender Marquinhos’ effort as PSG wrapped up the points inside the opening 30 minutes.
Greek side Olympiakos joined Benfica on three points after a 3-0 win over hosts Anderlecht.