Manchester City surrendered another lead as they had to settle for a 1-1 draw away to RB Leipzig in their Champions League round-of-16 first leg
Riyad Mahrez's first-half goal had seemingly set Pep Guardiola's side on their way to the quarter-finals as they dominated the early proceedings in Germany, but Leipzig bounced back and found a deserved equaliser through the head of Josko Gvardiol
Neither side could find a winner on the night and the tie remains in the balance ahead of the second leg next month
 The concern for City is that as against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, they could not capitalise when well placed to finish the contest
Leipzig's reputation as a pressing team had most expecting the Bundesliga outfit to produce a high-energy performance in front of an excitable home crowd but City dominated from the outset
 Possession of 74 per cent in the first half told the tale
The opening goal of the game came when Jack Grealish nicked back possession and his forward pass was dummied by Ilkay Gundogan, allowing Mahrez to fire the ball low into the corner of the net
 It was a deserved lead and put City in total control of the tie
Marco Rose's side were much brighter in the second half, Benjamin Henrichs going close twice soon after his half-time introduction, and when Christopher Nkunku came on Leipzig really started to believe
 The passivity of the first 45 minutes was forgotten
Andre Silva and Dominik Szoboszlai forced smart saves from Ederson but the goalkeeper had no answer when Gvardiol leaped above Ruben Dias and nodded into the net
 It was a deserved equaliser given the way that Leipzig responded once behind
City did reassert control in the final stages and could well have been given a penalty in stoppage time for a handball by Henrichs
 But they still have work to do in the second leg if they are to progress and justify their status as Champions League favourites
Failing to find Erling Haaland as often as the striker would like has been a feature of Manchester City's season despite the Norwegian's prolific scoring record
 In the absence of Kevin De Bruyne through illness, the struggle to get the ball to Haaland was even clearer
He cut an exasperated figure for much of the contest, regularly making runs that invited the pass only to find the ball did not arrive
 Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva both have the quality to play it but not the inclination as they prefer to retain possession instead
Haaland had 22 touches of the ball
 Every other outfield team-mate had at least 60
 Even Ederson had 37
 Striker is the glory position but in this Manchester City team, it requires plenty of patience too
 The debate about his role in the side will continue
Asked why the game changed in the second half, Guardiola told : "They make a step forward, press high, we had more problems to build up
 But after the goal we conceded, we came back and made a good last 15 or 20 minutes
 We had good chances and we decide it in Manchester
"He added: "I am happy with the whole game, not just the first half
 What do you expect? Are we playing a friendly game here? How many games have you watched from Leipzig? How many games? People expect we are going to win here 0-5? This is not the reality
"It is a competition where, in the group stage, many important teams are out
 It is difficult
 We knew it
 Four games in 10 days
 An away game, the travel
 We are a good team who do many, many good things
 If people expect us to come here 0-4, I am sorry we are not able to do this
"return to Bundesliga action on Saturday against top-four rivals ; kick-off 2
30pm
 Marco Rose's side then face another huge game on Friday March 3 with a trip to ; kick-off 7
30pm
 focus now switches to the Premier League as they travel to on Saturday, live on ; kick-off 5
30pm
 Pep Guardiola's side then go to in the FA Cup on Tuesday; kick-off 8pm
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