CL: Ten-man Man City held by Copenhagen after missed penalty

Ten-man Manchester City missed a penalty and had a goal ruled out as they were made to wait to reach the last 16 of the Champions League by Copenhagen in a VAR-dominated contest.

A dramatic opening saw two contentious decisions set the tone for the evening.

Rodri’s superb 25-yard effort for City was ruled out after Riyad Mahrez was penalised for handling, while the visitors benefited by being awarded a penalty when the ball struck home defender Nicolai Boilesen on the arm as he competed for a corner with Manuel Akanji.

But Copenhagen goalkeeper Kamil Grabara brilliantly saved Mahrez’s spot-kick to the delight of a raucous Parken Stadium crowd before Pep Guardiola’s side had Sergio Gomez sent-off for a professional foul on 19-year-old forward Hakon Haraldsson five minutes later.

The decision again came after the Portuguese referee Artur Dias was referred to the pitch-side monitor and left the English champions forced to reshape and play the final hour a man down.

City arrived in the Danish capital with the expectation of a win confirming their progression to the knockout stages with two games to spare.

Erling Haaland was left on the bench against opponents that had suffered a 5-0 thrashing in Manchester just under a week ago. Explaining his decision not to play the Norwegian, Guardiola said: “He finished the game against Southampton so, so tired and didn’t recover well.

“Yesterday was not good, today a little better but not perfect so we decided not to take the risk.”

However, despite the draw, Guardiola’s side still qualify for the knockout phase of the competition after Sevilla failed to beat Borussia Dortmund in Tuesday’s other Group G fixture.