football
Guardiola’s Man City wins UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla
Manchester City’s Cole Palmer (middle l) cheers with teammates over his goal to make it 1-1. photo
© Thanassis Stavrakis/AP/dpa
The traditional showdown between the European Cup winners is not top-class, but it is exciting. The match for the silver UEFA Super Cup will be decided on penalties.
Star coach Pep Guardiola has cleared the next trophy with Manchester City. The treble winner won the UEFASupercup with a 5:4 (1:1, 0:1) penalty shootout in Piraeus against FC Sevilla. Youssef En-Nesyri (25′) scored in regular time for Spain’s record winner of the small European football cup, Cole Palmer (63′) equalized for Manchester. There was no extension.
Guardiola had won the treble of championship, national cup and premier class with the Cityzens last season. In the Karaiskakis Stadium, however, the favorites struggled for a long time and only improved in the second half. While Sevilla was playing for the silver Supercup of the European Football Union for the seventh time, City celebrated a premiere – the Cityzens had won the Champions League for the first time in June.
It took Man City a few minutes to get into the game. Dutch international Nathan Aké had the first good chance for the Cityzens, but Sevilla goalkeeper Yassine Bounou defused the header (8′). Jack Grealish was also denied by the keeper, who is said to have been interested in FC Bayern (17′).
En-Nesyri’s header from a good Marcos Acuña cross came as a bit of a surprise. The 26-year-old prevailed against Aké and former Leipzig player Joško Gvardiol, who came from RB in the summer for over 90 million euros. Guardiola scratched his graying beard during the Seville celebration.
En-Nesyri had a great chance to score the second goal shortly after the restart, but City goalkeeper Ederson made a strong save (50′). Palmer’s header from Rodri brought the Guardiola team back into play. The English champions dominated the closing stages but only created a few compelling chances. Aké failed to head Bounou (90′).