Plaything of the gods said:Not at all sure about that.Ghost of Kippax said:The UEFA rules state that; If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings (in descending order): a) higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; b) superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; c) higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; d) higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question; e) if, after having applied criteria a) to d), teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to d) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria f) to h) apply; Look at point e). Goal difference in the group applies before GD between teams.
A 4-2 victory would have left us in second place on goal difference
Result: 2-4
Teams in question: City and Bayern, both on 15pts
a) 3pts each from the two head-to-head games
b) Both have 0 goal difference from the two head-to-head games
c) Both have scored 5 goals in the two head-to-head games
d) City top Bayern on away goals, 4 vs 3
It is not absolutely clear what "the teams in question" means. If it means all teams in the group, then a) is redundant. Or put another way, a) is the primary criterion for deciding ALL positions in the group and the above are the criteria for deciding all positions in the group
Superbly Summarised.
In short, Pellegrini didn't understand, however we had no certainty we'd have scored another even if we'd have tried. Also it would have been horrific if Aguero had come on and got injured.
What would have been really funny though would have been if we'd have got the 4th goal and neither ourselves or Bayern realised that we would win the group.
Bayern would have been defending like fuck, just kicking the ball away whilst we'd have still been attacking like our lives depended on it. Picture the scene at Full Time when reality would have kicked in for Bayern; it would have been akin to 11 Phil 'Gormless' Jones post Sunderland; Priceless!