Champions League – Bruges – Manchester City: The Citizens feast and win easily (1-5)

This is called setting the record straight. Recently beaten by PSG (2-0), Manchester City players reacted perfectly by going to correct FC Bruges during the third day of the Champions League on Tuesday (1-5). Ultra-domineering against opponents both overwhelmed and a little naive, Pep Guardiola’s men recited their scales. Joao Cancelo opened the scoring (30th), Riyad Mahrez signed a brace (43rd and 84th), Kyle Walker also scored (53rd) and the young Cole Palmer signed his first goal in C1 a few seconds after coming into play ( 67th) while Hans Vanaken saved the honor of the Belgian champions (81st). With now six points, City returns to the top of Pool A before the match between PSG and Leipzig.

Without a real center-forward but with a very offensive starting XI, the Mancuniens seized the ball from the first seconds and put a lot of pressure on the opposing defense. Immediately called upon near his surface, Bruges right-back Clinton Mata almost caused a penalty for a foul on Jack Grealish (6th). The goal of the stirring Grealish was then refused for a fault on his opponent (10th). Rodri also believed to score closely following a free kick from Kévin De Bruyne but suffered an offside from Aymeric Laporte beforehand (12th).

Freediving in their last 30 meters, the Blauw en Zwart were doing well. The sanction, however, logically ended up falling when the false center-forward Phil Foden, very backward, threw the left-back Cancelo into the opponent’s area. The Portuguese was solid and skillful to slip the ball between the legs of Simon Mignolet and afford a second European goal this season (0-1, 30th). City slightly relaxed the embrace to better get their opponent out and Mahrez got a penalty by combining with De Bruyne before transforming him (0-2, 43rd). If the Algerian then stumbled on Mignolet (45th + 4), the debates seemed folded at half-time.

Bruges refused to bow their heads

Faced with Belgians reinvigorated by the break and eager to raise their heads, the Citizens nevertheless continued to play their offensive game and Walker added to the bill after an attack launched by De Bruyne and Mahrez on the right (0- 3, 53rd). The 31-year-old side waited for his 39th C1 game to unlock his counter. If Foden lost his duel against Mignolet (58th), Palmer, who came into play with Raheem Sterling (64th), pushed his first ball into the net thanks to the perfect service from his teammate who left on the left (0-4 , 67th).

On the other hand, Sterling has narrowly missed several times when concluding in a completely crazy end of the match (70th, 77th, 87th, 90th + 1). Because far from giving up despite the magnitude of the score, the players of Philippe Clément rushed to the attack to bring back a smile to their noisy supporters. They were rewarded when their playmaker Vanaken cheated Ederson with a recovery in the middle of the box (1-4, 81st). City, however, responded in the wake of the excellent Mahrez, launched in the axis from his camp by Fernandinho before going to offer a double (1-5, 84th). The Belgian champions return to earth after their draw against PSG (1-1) and their success in Leipzg (1-2). Those from England have shown that their setback in Paris was only an accident and that they had very serious arguments.