What's wrong with Manchester City? Since their ascension to the elite of the Premier League under Sheik Mansoor, they've been dominant every season.

But when it comes to cups, it's a different story. Never have they won two legs – the games against Tottenham Hotspur in last season's Champions League was the first time they had even won a second leg out of six attempts, and that came after losing the first game 1-0. In the FA Cup, going all the way back to the 1965/66 season, they have won it only twice (both in the current big money era) and been eliminated by Wigan three times since 2011/12.

It could be seen from the outset. Of the four games in this week's mini-tournament, this is the only one where a team didn't start ferociously. Atalanta (who were winning up to the very, very end), RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich all started as they meant to go on – City were tepid. An early chance for both sides gave way to what would come to define this half of football.

City hog the possession, passing the ball back and forth between the central and attacking midfielders. Since this time at FC Barcelona, this has been manager Pep Guardiola's trademark style; better known by the derisive nickname "tiki-taka," the intention is to keep the ball away from your opponents and tire them out as they work to get it back. Once their stamina has been chipped away and they players wrung out of position, the ball then gets sent forward to the attackers.

This was all well and good in the 2000s. It even brought the Spanish national team three back-to-back titles. Now, it's been overexposed and the game has moved on. City passed and passed and passed – and Lyon waited. As time expired, City's tactics began to backfire. It was them who were getting worn out by the constant motion and who started to make mistakes while looking for channels to move through.

Any time they were a step too slow or slightly inaccurate, Lyon pounced, and in the 24th minute took a surprising lead. Joao Cancelo got the ball to Sterling who went for a cutback and found there was nobody to pass to and lost the ball to Lyon's Fernando Marcal who sent a long pass down to Karl Took Okambi who sprung the offside trap.

Forced into action, Eric Garcia clumsily tackled the ball into the path of Maxwel Cornet who made it 1-0 in the exact style of an R1 + O goal on the FIFA video game.

City responded with a little more energy. De Bruyne took free kicks and corners, Ilkay Gundogan and Kyle Walker fired in crosses and each time, Lyon crowded the box to make sure nothing could get through. The only real danger came from Lyon's goalkeeper Anthony Lopes whose trademark clearance style of punching the ball away was incredibly reckless. One time, he missed and a defender had to clear his lines it for him.

The second half proceeded in similar fashion and it took until the 69th minute for City to level and the goal was the exception that proved the rule. Sterling made one of his trademark cut backs and found de Bruyne. The Belgian ran at it and smashed it with his first touch into the bottom left corner. That type of direct, confident and offensive play stood at odds with the rest of City's performance that night.

Unfortunately, they learned nothing and reverted to type instantly. With over an hour of experience, Lyon knew how to deal with it and foiled every shot on goal. This, in turn, appeared to make City nervous and they piled forward to overload Lyon's box.

As always, against a side like Lyon, this was dangerous. In the 78th minute, Ekambi and Moussa Dembele sprung City's offside trap once again. A long pass from Houssem Aouar traveled directly down the center of the pitch and Ekambi wisely nutmegged himself to prevent the play from being offside. Dembele controlled it and nutmegged City keeper Ederson Moraes to make it 2-1.

The final goal sums up the game in a nutshell. City started to turn the screw and in the 86th minute, their main tactic looks like it has finally paid off. Gabriel Jesus broke free on the right and got the ball to Sterling, open in front of goal. All he had to do was touch the ball to score; instead, he leant back and blasted it into space from within the six yard box. It might be the most important miss of his whole career.

The ball was goalkicked back into play and Lyon scampered down the field – City were still stunned – and Aouar had a go. It was palmed down by Ederson directly into the path of Dembele who knocked in as Sterling should have done, finishing things at 3-1 in the 87th minute.