This was Manchester City tossing away a victory like someone carelessly discarding the match that sparks a wildfire and who knows what the extent of the damage will be for Pep Guardiola and his players.
It was a return to form that went up in flames, a comfortable evening that ended in anger, frustration and boos from some incensed City supporters.
Whether it was complacency, arrogance or a fatal mixture of both, this was the sort of humiliating and painful capitulation from City that will fuel more talk of a once formidable team unravelling.
It was the type of implosion; the sort of self-inflicted destruction we are not used to seeing from a Guardiola side. It was shocking, embarrassing and totally avoidable.
City were cruising towards a much-needed win when they contrived to throw a three-goal lead away in the space of 14 calamitous minutes.
Man City 3-1 Feyenoord: Letting Feyenoord back into the game
Guardiola clearly thought the game was won and the danger had passed. He has done this sort of thing many times before, sending on youngster Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, along with James McAtee and captain Kevin De Bruyne with just over 20 minutes left to play. There were loud cheers to welcome all three. Like everyone else, City’s supporters believed the game was won and it was time to sit back and have some fun.
This was not a moment for Josko Gvardiol to start playing with his slippers on though. Feyenoord had barely threatened a goal in the second half, but the Croatia international, as he had done in the defeat by Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, gave the ball away in a terrible area.
This time, it was an under-hit back-pass, which was pounced on by Anis Hadj Moussa. There was little Ederson could do other than let him knock the ball around him and Moussa scored from a tight angle. Feyenoord, from nowhere, were back in the game.
Man City 3-2 Feyenoord: Sparking panic and creating pressure
People were talking about Gvardiol being one of Europe’s best and most reliable centre-backs not so long ago, but he has suffered a complete loss of form. He is playing with panic rather than composure.
A loose pass out of defence, when under no pressure, went straight to the feet of a Feyenoord player, who moved the ball out wide to the dangerous Igor Paixao.
City should still have had the numbers back to clear the danger, but they appeared to misjudge the weight on the deep cross that sailed over the heads of both centre-backs. Jordan Lotomba refused to give up on it and, with City’s players, including goalkeeper Ederson, heavy-footed and static, he hooked a volley goalwards.
Ederson’s hands were not in the right position and, surprised to see the ball come back at him, he could only divert it on to a post with his thigh, sending it spinning perfectly into the path of Santiago Gimenez to chest home from a few inches out.
Man City 3-3 Feyenoord: The final three nails in the coffin
Even at 3-2, time was running out for Feyenoord, but rather than drop back and deprive their opponents of space to operate in, City pushed up, played a high defensive line and made it simple for the Dutch side’s rapid attacking players to get in behind.
Jack Grealish, who really should know how to manage a game in the final minutes, even tried to play a quick free-kick, rather than kill time, which gave the ball back to the opposition.
It made no sense to set up that way given the match situation, but City’s brains were scrambled.
It was atrocious defending that was further harmed by a split-second of hesitation from Ederson. With Gvardiol and Manuel Akanji missing in action, City were in trouble.
If the goalkeeper had remained in his goal, there would have been little Paixao could have done with the lofted ball over the top. But Ederson came, stopped and then ran forward again outside of the penalty box. Unable to use his hands, Ederson tried to head clear, but was beaten by the speed of the forward.
From there City were exposed, with defenders dashing back to try to defend the unguarded net. Paixao was able to chip a cross towards the far post for the onrushing David Hancko to head past Rico Lewis, sparking delirium in the away end.
