90+2 min: Aguero, under pressure from Dante, pokes the ball under the on-rushing Neur ... but wide!

90 min: City have at least three minutes to reverse the pattern of the match and nab an equaliser. And it doesn’t look likely, as Robben, who has been causing chaos since coming on, hurtles towards the area again and tees up Pizarro, who fires into the side-netting.

88 min: With City camped near the edge of their area, Boateng attempts to penetrate with a mighty blast from 35 yards. It’s a fine effort and forces Hart into a one-handed save.

City substitution: Kolarov on, Navas off.

86 min: Alonso wastes the freekick.

85 min: This time Robben really is clobbered, as Fernandinho bowls him over to concede a freekick about 28 yards out. Before the freekick can be taken, Bayern make another switch, introducing Dante for Benatia. He goes straight towards the edge of the City area in anticipation of a good delivery ...

Bayern substitution: Pizarro on, Rafinha off.

83 min: Silva goes down in the box under a challenge from Benatia and has a far stronger case to be awarded a penalty than the Robben one a moment ago. But again the ref is unmoved.

79 min: Robben skitters into the box and then goes down as Dimichelis dispossesses him. The crowd bawl for a penalty; the ref sees sense. “Could you pop down and ask Pep to do up his flies,” pleads Kevin Glynn. “It’s making it hard for me to concentrate on my beer, I’m sure its having a similar effect on Toure.” I don’t know about that: at times tonight it has looked as if that’s exactly what Toure’s doing, concentrating on beer.

77 min: Dimichelis is next into the ref’s book, due to a mis-timed lunge at Gotze. Three of City’s back four are now on yellows - and the delicately-balanced Arjen Robben is on the scene ...

75 min: Lewandoswki booked for a shveo on Sagna. And now Bayern unleash Arjen Robben, in place of Muller.

City substitution: Dzeko off, Aguero on. This should shake things up.

73 min: Bernat lashes in another vicious cross from the left as Bayern’s yearning for victory becomes more intense.

71 min: Hart fumbles a snapshot from the edge of the area but atones with a super close-range reflex save from Muller, who, it turns out, was offside.

70 min: Alaba dissects the City defence with a canny ball to the overlapping Bernat, who fires a low one across the face og goal. Demichelis does superbly to clear it right in front of Lewandowski.

68 min: Guardiola grimaces as his team misplace a simple pass. Or maybe he’s just looked at the stadium clock and seen that there is another 22 minutes left of this plod.

66 min: Still no sign of Aguero. And apparently Diego Costa is stil on the bench for Chelsea (who are being held 1-1 by Schalke). Are these teams really turning down the chance to go full-gun for victory in their opening Champions League matches just to preserve their best strikers for Sunday’s Premier League clash?

65 min: Clichy cops a yellow card for disrupting a Bayern break. If I ruled Fifa, City would not be allowed to get any players back into position before the freekick is taken.

62 min: Navas rips forward on a rare City counter-attack and pings a delicious ball towards Silva ... who fails to make the most of it, sending a flimsy effort wide. “Don’t want to jinx it but it seems there’s been a bit of rabble rousing going on in Nottingham!” gulps David, noting that Fulham have pulled the scores back to 2-2. Meanwhile, Roma are tonking CSKO Moscow 5-0.

61 min: Benatia nuts over from a corner.

59 min: Bayern continue to dominate. The pressure is mounting. Hart has to concede a corner by batting the ball behind. He then missed the in-swinging delivery and was lucky that Fernandino took it on his thigh and cleared. “Apologies that we can’t provide Pulitzer-winning prose to adorn your MBM,” scrawls Mark Judd. “I’ve stopped reading and I’m off to a creative writing class so I can do better in future.” That’s the spirit.

City substitution: Nasri off, Milner on. Looks like Toure is going to be shifted further forward and Milner will do the defensive work that the Ivorian was not able to.

57 min: Freekick to Bayern about 27.3 yards out, quite central. It’s taken short to Alonso, who clips it into the penalty box. City clear.

55 min: A lovely improvised backheel by Muller in the City box presents the ball to Gotze, who can’t generate any kind of power in his shot, leaving Hart with a simple save.

53 min: Gotze robs Sanga to feed Muller... who goofs by shanking a cross way wide. The second half has been drabber than a lazy simile.

51 min: After a tepid opening to the second half Bayern try to raise temperature and the tempo. None of which pleases Toure, who’s looking laboured and is being bypassed too easily. Meanwhile, Lahm has a bang from distance but his low efforts skims well wide.

49 min: Lewandowski does the Drogba, jumping at the near post to head away a corner at his own end.

48 min: Oh, I meant to say: thanks for all your emails so far. If you’re wondering why I haven’t published any, well, it’s because none of them were any good. I understand that it may not always be apparent but we do have some quality control here. Tell you what, let’s all try harder. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.

47 min: Alonso fires a corner into the near post, where Touré leaps to head clear.

46 min: Off we go for the second half, with the same personnel as before.

44 min: Kompany booked for a barge. By which I mean that he was punished for shunting an opponent to the ground, not that he has agreed to sing on a flat-bottomed boat.

43 min: After City construct a move to the edge of the Bayern box, a chance opens up for Nasri to shoot ... but instead he tries to sneak a nigh-on impossible pass through to Dzeko. Bayern clear gratefully.

40 min: Dzeko booked for a tackle on Gotze as Bayern sought to break. He’s unlucky, the Bosnian, as it was a perfectly fair challenge. What’s more, he seems to have injured himself in the process. Off he pops for some treatment.

38 min: Navas wins a corner after collecting a good deep cross from Clichy. Nasri swings in a fine delivery that Sagna meets at the near post. Neuer punches clear under duress.

36 min: Another mighty let-off for City! Bayern hogged the ball for ages, probing relentlessly, and then Lewandowski made a run in behind and was rewarded with a lovely through-ball. With one touch he took it past Hart but, like Muller earlier, he couldn’t finish the move by hitting the target and instead shot into the side-netting. The angle was difficult but not prohibitively so.

33 min: Roma are now 4-0 up against CSKA Moscow!

32 min: Alaba, who has been pushed into midfield as Bayern switch to a 4-4-2, collects a knock-back from Muller and sends a rocket at goal from 25 yards. Hart again bats it away.

31 min: Lahm, a constant wriggly menace down the right, threatens to dazzle his way into the City box but then knocks the ball sideways to Alaba, who sends a fierce drive just wide.

29 min: Silva skips towards the Bayern box and then pings the ball to the feet of Dzeko and scampers towards the penalty spot in an anticipation of a return pass. But the Bosnian goes for glory and drags a feeble shot way wide from a difficult angle.

27 min: By the way, if any of you are looking for a way into football management, there may be a vacancy soon at Fulham. Felix Magath’s rabble are already 2-0 down at Forest.

25 min: Kompany does well to usher Lewandowski off the ball. City launch another rapid counter-attack through the speedster Navas. He delivers a dangerous low cross that Bayern have to strain to put behind before Dzeko pounces.

22 min: Just as Bayern start to believe that they’re about to bash City’s door in, the visitors break down the other end and almost burgle a goal! Dzeko curls a decent effort inches wide from the edge of the area.

21 min: More bother for City! Bayern slice through them again with another rapid and jagged move involving Lahm and Rafinha. Gotze fires off a shot from 15 yards and Hart plunges to his left to parry and he’s fortunate that the rebound eludes the Bayern players in the box.

19 min: Bernat charges down the left and delivers a fine cross. Muller ghosts in front of Clichy and aims a powerful header at goal from 10 yards. Hart reacts brillantly to push it over the bar!

17 min: You might like to know that in this group’s other match, Roma are already 2-0 up at home to CSKA Moscow. But one of the finest defenders in the Premier League era is on the bench. And beside Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa is Ashley Cole.

15 min: The technical skills are rarefied, goal-mouth action rare. But it’s a gripping enough spectacle.

13 min: Things get even more encouraging for City: after another spell of possession, they create their first chance of the game, Silva slipping a dainty ball through to Dzeko, who has a go from an acute angle. Easy save for Neuer but promising for the visitors.

11 min: Finally City enjoy a bout of keep-ball, with Silva integral to it, flitting about everywhere to orchestrate the move. It didn’t get them into the danger zone but at least it relieved a bit of pressure and allowed their players to re-acquaint themselves with the ball.

9 min: City, still without much of the ball, are gradually pushing the play further away from their goal...

6 min: The TV has just shown a replay off Muller’s early miss and I do believe that what caused him to stumble was the fact that Sagna did not tackle him. It seemed that the forward was anticipating a lunge from the Frenchman but Sagna pulled out cleverly, having reasoned that he would have been unable to get the ball without conceding a penalty - and that unexpected development seems to have broke Muller’s concentration.

5 min: City are starting to steady themselves but still finding it difficult to retain possession for long in the face of feverish pressing from Bayern.

3 min: Formation fans might like to know that Guadiola seems to have plumped for an unexpected 3-5-2 formation. City appear to have opted for an ‘all at sea’ formation....

1 min: Unbelievable miss! Bayern’s movement completely bamboozled City and, within 42 seconds of the start, Muller found himself rushing into the opposing box to collect a dinky through-ball and run around Hart. Nothing other than a goal seemed possible .. but the forward was slightly off-balance and poked his shot wide from nine yards!

1 min: Bayern kick off in, yes, traditional fashion.

Here come the teams. Bayern are in their traditional red, City in their traditional sky blue and both teams are champions of their countries: this may well be the most traditional Champions League tie ever. It’s just a shame that neither had to fight their way past St Patrick’s Athletic or Lincoln Red Imps to get here.

That Bayern defence looks vulnerable, if you want my view. That makes it particularly surprising that Aguero isn’t starting but Pellegrini probably reckons Dzeko is better as a forward fulcrum for the likes of Silva and Nasri to feed off. Aguero will surely enter later. I foresee goals. And a 2-2 draw.

Sky are currently broadcasting an interview with Jerome Boateng that was obviously recorded yesterday or the day before. Asked to identify the player that Bayern fear most, Boateng replies: “Sergio Aguero”.

It seems that the absence of Sergio Aguero is a tactical decision. And a very odd one.

Currently on Sky, Jamie Redknapp and Jamie Carragher are standing at a giant wall screen and demonstrating various tactical ploys that tonight’s teams might use - and looking to the seated Michael Ballack for approval. It’s all very evocative of pupils presenting a school project to a stern teacher, who manages to acknowledge their well-meaning efforts without looking at all impressed. Oh, Jeff Stelling has just instructed the Jamies to sit back down, which is a pity as it was starting to look like they were so desperate for Ballack’s endorsement that they might start dancing or trying magic tricks. Bah!