Champions League favourites Manchester City were as long as 100/1 to beat Schalke with five minutes of normal time remaining in their eventual 3-2 first leg win on Wednesday night.

The Citizens, who are now 11/4 outright front-runners with the best bookmakers, had Nicolas Otamendi sent off and were 2-1 down with the final whistle in sight.

However, Leroy Sane struck a ferocious free-kick in the 85th minute, with City having been a huge price to win on the night seconds before.

The unstoppable set-piece sparked the late turnaround, with Raheem Sterling escaping his marker – and the wrath of the officials after an apparent shove on Bastian Oczipka – to cooly slot home the winner in the last minute of the scheduled 90.

A spokesman for Bet365, who were trading at 100/1 on a City win in the 84th minute, said: “In recent months we’ve seen Manchester City lose a few games after taking the lead, but we weren’t so lucky in this one.

“A pre-game odds-on favourite like Man City winning it late from behind in a match with plenty of goals made it a cracking night for those that kept faith with Pep’s men.”

Pep Guardiola’s ruthless side are 10/1 with BetHard to win all four major trophies this season, with the first trophy of their quadruple target set to be decided this Sunday as they take on Chelsea in the League Cup final.

Defeat for Chelsea could spark the sacking of under-pressure Blues boss Maurizio Sarri, who is as short as 1/4 to be the next Premier League managerial casualty, with several club legends rumoured to be lined up to replace him.