A Sergio Aguero double helped Manchester City to a 2-1 win over CSKA Moscow in a Champions League game that was, rather unfortunately, overshadowed by racist chants directed at City midfielder Yaya Toure.
A section of the CSKA fans, who had two players of African origin in their own side, reportedly made monkey chants towards Toure, whenever the City skipper made his foray on the CSKA goal, and with it taking the gloss off what was really an entertaining game, despite concerns over the nature of the pitch at the Arena Khimki in Russia.
"I was quite disappointed. It was unbelievable and very sad on my part," Toure said of the racist chants. "I told the ref. We want to stop that. I think UEFA have to do a lot to try to stop it. Maybe close the stadium for a couple of games. As an African player, it is always sad when you hear something like that."
After an entertaining opening half-hour, where both sides looked capable of scoring, particularly City, with Aguero missing a couple of really presentable chances, CSKA took the lead through former Manchester United man Zoran Tosic.
Keisuke Honda jumped over Javier Garcia to win a header off a long clearance, with the ball falling for Tosic to chip over Joe Hart in the 32nd minute.
The lead, though, lasted only two minutes with Aguero, in prime form this season, pulling the scores back level - the cliché of being the most vulnerable right when you have scored coming to the fore.
Aleksandr Kolarov found Silva inside the box, with the Spaniard then crossing for Aguero on the penalty spot, with the Argentine then taking a touch before prodding into the back of the net.
From 1-0 down, City were 2-1 up in the space of 11 minutes when Aguero again popped up with the goal on 42 minutes. A throw-in led to Alvaro Negredo finding the space to chip in a cross for Aguero to head home from six yards out.
The second half saw both sides looking for that goal which would give them the impetus, with CSKA coming close on a couple of occasions courtesy Tosic and Seydou Doumbia, one of the African-born players in the CSKA team.
City tried to kill the game off, but kept getting caught on the counter, with the English Premier League side sometimes just about hanging on as Garcia and Matija Nastasic kept looking shaky in defence.
After several attempts came to nought, with a decent penalty shout for a challenge on Doumbia by Garcia not being given, CSKA had the perfect chance to take away a point right at the death, and make the reverse tie in a couple of weeks' time even more crucial, but Honda of all people failed to find a way past Hart from point-blank range, with the City goalkeeper's left shin coming to the English side's rescue in pretty much the final kick of the game.
