Manchester City rout Club Brugge
Manchester City eased past Belgium champions Club Brugge don’t Tuesday night. Pep Guardiola’s men scored five goals in a comfortable win.
Joao Cancelo opened the scoring for Manchester City in the 30th minute after receiving a lobbed ball from Phil Foden, in behind the defense before tucking it home through the keeper’s legs.
Mahrez won the penalty in the 43rd minute after being brought down inside the penalty area. The Algerian winger took the penalty himself, sent the keeper the wrong way, and scored his side’s second goal. Manchester City went into the break leading 2-0.
Guardiola’s men did not stop the onslaught as Kyle Walker chipped in too, for his side’s third goal. The right-back scored the goal after being played through cleverly by Kevin De Bruyne.
Substitute, Cole Palmer got in on the act as he scored his first-ever Champions League goal. The academy graduate curled in from the outside the box with his left foot to make the score 4-0 in the 67th minute.
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Club Brugge got a consolation goal in the 81st minute after Hans Vanaken tapped home from across.
Riyad Mahrez rounded off the scoring in the 84th minute making it 5-1 for the Citizens. The Algerian was sent through 1v1 against the keeper ad he kept his cool to slot the ball into the net.
Pep Guardiola post-match interview
Pep Guardiola was happy with his team’s performance on the night.
“It was one of the best performances in Europe we’ve done so far,
“We are all delighted. We were so good. If we can take three more points, to have nine points with two games left, we’ll be close to qualifying for the next round.”
Guardiola said postmatch.
When asked about Cole Palmer’s second-half cameo, Guardiola added:
“Cole has a special quality in front of the box, a talent that is difficult to find. When he has the ball there, most of the time it ends up in the net. It’s difficult to find that.”
Manchester City returned to winning ways in Europe after being beaten by PSG in the last matchday.
