As was the case in the reverse fixture a fortnight ago, the Russian side proved difficult to break down and despite Seko Fofana’s first-half strike, the visitors’ inspired second half performance turned the game on its head.
The match saw the return of Fofana to action, whilst Angus Gunn, Marcos Lopes and Devante Cole all missed out through injury. Olivier Ntcham made his first ever start in the competition.
Both sides started the game brightly and it was end-to-end football for the opening quarter of an hour. The first real chance of the game came for the visitors after just five minutes but Svyatoslav Georgievski’s dangerous free-kick was well-parried by Billy O’Brien.
On 14 minutes though, Aleksandr Makarov struck the post for CSKA with a curling effort and the Sky Blues were shook into life.
Vieira’s men were far more careful with possession after that and they broke the deadlock on 21 minutes when Jose Angel Pozo was put through on goal. With only the goalkeeper to beat, the striker delayed his shot and the chance seemed to have gone. Instead, he squared the ball for Fofana who smashed the ball home, after his first attempt was parried by Sergei Revyakin.
Five minutes later, City had the ball in the net again but Pozo’s effort was ruled out for offside. From then on, the Sky Blues were content to play keep-ball until half-time and so the score remained 1-0.
CSKA were much the better side after the restart and they made their dominance count on 66 minutes, when Aleksandr Golovin struck a low shot into the bottom corner to equalise.
It was no more than the visitors deserved and they wasted a number of opportunities before taking the lead with just over ten minutes remaining. After a period of pressure, the Russian side floated in a dangerous free-kick and Nikita Chernov planted a header past O’Brien.
With CSKA defending in numbers to preserve their win, the Sky Blues couldn’t find a response.
Jason Denayer struck the bar in the dying seconds with a header but that was as close as the home side came to an equaliser and they were subsequently leapfrogged at the top of Group D by CSKA who have now ensured their progression to the next stage.
