totti makes history as roma draw with city published: tuesday 30 september 2014, 22.40cet manchester city fc 1-1 as roma francesco totti's first goal in england, and a historic one at that, earned the giallorossi a deserved group e draw. by simon hart from city of manchester stadium
• sergio agüero's penalty gives city the lead • totti becomes the oldest scorer in uefa champions league history with his equaliser • ıt is the veteran giallorossi captain's first goal in england at the tenth attempt • city pick up first point in group e; roma have four • next games: cska v manchester city, roma v bayern (21 october)
francesco totti hit a history-making goal to earn as roma a richly deserved draw at uefa champions league group e rivals manchester city fc.
totti's first-half strike cancelled out sergio agüero's early penalty and earned him a place in the record books as the uefa champions league's oldest scorer at 38 years and three days. the result left city still seeking a win in the group and three points behind the second-placed giallorossi after two games.
the opening minutes were all about maicon, roma's brazilian full-back, returning to the club where he spent the 2012/13 season. his tug on agüero in the roma box was penalised by referee björn kuipers and the argentinian international did the rest, sending Łukasz skorupski the wrong way with his spot kick. a minute later maicon very nearly made amends when totti's chipped pass put him clear and he smashed an angled shot against the crossbar.
that was a sign that roma would not be cowed by the early setback and a foretaste too of totti's influence. the serie a outfit looked confident in possession, as would befit a team with six straight wins behind them, and in the 23rd minute they were back level as totti found the net to usurp ryan giggs as the uefa champions league's oldest marksman.
ıt was a beautifully worked goal. seydou keita fed radja nainggolan and reading the arc of totti's run behind the city defence, he released his captain, who lofted the ball beyond hart and into the far corner. ıt was totti's only touch in the city box in the first period.
totti's next trick was a cute dink that put gervinho clear only for the ıvory coast forward's control to let him down. what gervinho does bring roma is raw pace and two minutes before half-time he streaked away from gaël clichy and drew a near-post save from hart.
city had started with two strikers in agüero and edin džeko yet they were being outplayed in midfield. manuel pellegrini's response was to send on james milner for jesús navas at half-time, yet roma remained on top, totti flashing a shot wide and hart keeping out miralem pjanić's close-range attempt. pellegrini's next move was to bring on frank lampard for džeko. as a consequence city finished strongly, with david silva clipping an effort wide from pablo zabaleta's low cross in added time, but for the fourth season running failed to win their opening home game in the competition.
