Manchester City have gone into half time of their Champions League meeting against Sevilla level at 1-1 after battling back from a goal down.
The first real opening of the contest came 10 minutes in, when Kevin De Bruyne picked out attacking teammate Wilfried Bony to shoot right down the throat of Rico in the opposition goal.
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De Bruyne himself came close to making a breakthrough moments later after a quick counter allowed the Belgian to cut in from the left and fire one narrowly wide of the target.
Sevilla slowly managed to grow into the game, and they came within the width of the post of taking the lead as Yevhen Konoplyanka's free kick got the better of Joe Hart but had just a little too much on it to creep in.
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An end-to-end period followed, with Vicente Iborra and Jesus Navas almost getting on the end of decent chances inside the box, while Yaya Toure also saw his deflected effort fly just over the bar.
The opening goal of the match did arrive shortly after the half-hour mark, however, as Vitolo picked out Konoplyanka to bend the ball beyond the reach of Hart into the bottom corner, with the Citizens' offside shouts quickly waved away.
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City did not have to wait too long for a response, thanks to Toure reaching the byline and cutting the ball back into a central position for Raheem Sterling to take the shot on and, while Rico did manage to keep the initial attempt out, Wilfried Bony was on hand to convert the rebound.
Konoplyanka then squandered a chance to edge his side back ahead right before half time, with Nicolas Otamendi doing well to get in the way of the winger's shot.
Daniel Lewis
