They were well in it for 89 minutes but one of their former players stepped up to fire in a deflected volley.
Jerome Boateng's goal at the Allianz Arena means Man City start the 2014/15 Champions League with a fairly unfortunate defeat as Bayern Munich take advantage in Group E.
"We've had this conversation for four years. They've got to learn how to play tough in Europe," said European football writer Ben Lyttleton who analysed City's 1 - 0 defeat on Off The Ball tonight.
"Once again they were doing so well for 86 minutes. Joe Hart kept them in it with many saves and I thought their defence on the whole was pretty good."
Lyttleton picked out Arjen Robben as the Bayern Munich player who swung the match away from City.
But he is reserving judgement on City's European campaign until they take on five-star Roma, who thrashed CSKA Moscow 5 - 1. He believes Manuel Pellegrini's side will need to get four points from the two games against the Serie A side.
Listen to the full analysis below:
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