The Blues had laboured to find any fluency throughout a scrappy, open game that could easily have gone either way, but the hosts kept plugging away and ultimately reaped their reward.
This was always going to be a game City couldn’t afford to lose, but when Sevilla opened the scoring in the first-half, it looked as though it could be another frustrating Champions League evening for Manuel Pellegrini’s men.
But just as they did in Monchengladbach, City recovered to win the game right at the death
...City v Sevilla...
With the same eleven that began against Bournemouth selected, City began brightly and twice could have gone ahead in the opening ten minutes, first through a long-range effort from Jesus Navas and then through Wilfried Bony who shot at the keeper from point blank range.
Then Kevin De Bruyne was put clear on 14 minutes but he shot wide from 15 yards out as a defender closed in.
Sevilla hit back well and could have taken the lead twice themselves in the space of a couple of minutes, first when Konoplyanka struck the post from a free-kick on 17 minutes with Joe Hart beaten and then a deep cross saw Kolodziejczak’s header hooked away by Bacary Sagna moments after.
In an open, attacking game, Sevilla were more than playing their part and continued to threaten until the Blues finally cracked just before the half-hour mark when the dangerous Konoplyanka was allowed space to sweep home Vitolo’s low cross.
It had been coming and was an all-too familiar story of City falling behind and the giving the opposition the advantage – it was now all about how the Blues responded
...City v Sevilla..
Within six minutes, we had our answer as Yaya Toure powered forward and tried to play in Bony but the ball overran into Navas’ path. The former Sevilla winger played a clever reverse pass to Toure as the attack continued and the Ivorian powered his way past his marker inside the box, whipped in a low cross that Raheem Sterling shot goal-wards which was saved and Bony’s resulting effort struck Adil Rami and bobbled into the net.
It was proving to be a colourful, end to end affair that again underlined the quality of Group D.
Sevilla had a golden opportunity to retake the lead ten minutes after the re-start when Kevin Gameiro rose unmarked in the six-yard box but his header went a foot over when it seemed he must score.
It was another reminder that playing open, expansive football in this competition can be risky to say the least!
Sevilla continued to look sharp on the break, but without Sergio Aguero and David Silva, City were toiling to unpick the La Liga side’s defence with opportunities few and far between.
The game became more and more stretched as the minutes ticked down and the game was crying out for one piece of quality that could settle matters – and when it finally came there was no surprise that it was from cultured left foot of De Bruyne.
Toure burst forward looking for one final opening with Sterling and De Bruyne in support – Yaya chose the Belgian who took the ball into box, cut inside and then drilled a low shot past Rico to send the Etihad wild.
There was just enough time for Sevilla to cause one or two scares in the injury time that remained, but the Blues clung on for yet another last-gasp win that now makes the group table look far healthier than it did a few weeks ago.
