Manchester City have a tough task reaching the Europa League quarter-finals after losing 2-0 at Dynamo Kiev.
Late Gusev strike gives Dynamo the upper hand
Manchester City have a tough task reaching the Europa League quarter-finals after losing 2-0 at Dynamo Kiev.
The Blues expected their biggest test yet in this year's competition as they faced Ukrainian opposition for the first time.
And in freezing conditions at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium, Dynamo made home advantage count, scoring in each half to give themselves breathing space for the second leg at Eastlands next Thursday.
Former Chelsea and AC Milan star Andriy Shevchenko bundled in a 25th-minute opener for the Champions League regulars before Oleg Gusev pounced in the 77th minute to claim what could be a crucial second goal for the hosts.
In one of two changes from the side that laboured to a 1-0 win over Wigan on Saturday, City boss Roberto Mancini made the bold decision to drop top scorer Carlos Tevez and bring in Edin Dzeko to partner Mario Balotelli up front.
Tevez on bench
And that move backfired as the strike pair failed to impress before Balotelli came off after a bizarre start to the second half, which saw the game restart before the Italy international had come back onto the pitch.
Despite making a bright start, the Blues were unable to maintain the form that had marked them down as tournament favourites.
Aleksandar Kolarov made early inroads up the City left before David Silva threaded the ball through to Micah Richards, only for goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy to block his path.
Balotelli tried to release Dzeko in the 18th minute only to put too much weight on the pass and the ball drifted out of play.
City then won a free-kick 25 yards out but Kolarov sent his effort into the goalkeeper's body and Dynamo took the lead with their first attempt on goal.
Andriy Yarmolenko whipped in a dangerous left-wing cross between the City defence and Joe Hart, and although the City keeper did his best to lunge forward and beat Shevchenko to the ball, the 34-year-old striker managed to bundle it in from six yards.
Dynamo hammered Turkish side Besiktas 8-1 on aggregate in the last round and grew in confidence towards the end of the first half, with Shevchenko's cut-back failing to find a team-mate.
Gusev then cut in from the left to drag a 20-yard shot wide while Artem Milevskiy blazed over on the stroke of half-time.
Balotelli confusion
The second half kicked off with City having 10 men on the field before Balotelli emerged from the tunnel late and rejoined the action some 20 seconds after the restart.
It soon became apparent that the 20-year-old star was struggling as he kept clutching his face yet he remained in some distress and picked up a booking before Mancini finally put an end to his misery, bringing on Tevez in the 57th minute.
The City captain made an immediate difference and the visitors almost drew level two minutes later when Barry laid the ball back to Yaya Toure, whose low 20-yard effort was touched wide by Shovkovskiy at full stretch.
Dynamo looked dangerous on the counter-attack and Milevskiy got into a good position only to deliver a weak shot that Hart saved comfortably.
The ball then fell for City centre-half Joleon Lescott on the edge of the Dynamo box in the 68th minute and he hit a firm effort straight at Shovkovskiy.
But with the Blues beginning to pen Dynamo back, the hosts broke to double their lead.
Vincent Kompany got his head to a right-wing cross but the ball looped towards the penalty spot, where Gusev nipped in front of Richards to chest it down before volleying past Hart from 10 yards.
City continued to push forward late on in search of a crucial away goal and had Hart not denied Gusev from another Dynamo break then Mancini's men would be staring at an even bigger challenge to keep their European dream alive at Eastlands next week.
