Ilkay Gündogan, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, and James McAtee all found the net as City put in a convincing performance to beat their rivals Slovan Bratislava 4-0 to earn their first three points of the Champions League campaign.
As the defending champions, City are now on four points after two games, playing to a goalless draw against Inter in the first round. Slovan Bratislava come on the heels of a 5-1 drubbing from Celtic.
“We have to give Slovan some respect,” Foden said to TNT Sports. “It was pretty difficult to break them down, and the vibe was brilliant. We did our job, found the spaces we needed. On another night, we could have scored three or four more. But, in general, a 4-0 is a good result. After that draw with Inter, it was important to get the win. We’re moving on now.”
The Premiers League champions wholly controlled the game, spending most of the night inside the Bratislava half and firing a ton of shots toward goal.
The eighth minute saw Gündogan give City a 1-0 lead, scoring for the first time since returning from Barcelona last season, as his shot from the edge of the area was deflected off Kyriakos Savvidis and nestled into the far corner of the net.
And just seven minutes later, Foden struck. In the 15th minute of the game, he scored from Jérémy Doku’s feed and curled a brilliant shot into the bottom corner.
In the 58th minute, Haaland registered his 42nd goal in European football. The striker collected a first-time pass from Rico Lewis, rounded Slovan keeper Dominik Takac before rolling the ball into an empty net and was substituted just two minutes later.
Foden assisted McAtee in the 74th minute, allowing for his first-ever goal in Manchester City colors, capping off a perfect evening for the visitors. City, thus extending their unbeaten streak in the Champions League to 25 games, finds itself, like Manchester United was, equaling the record held from 2007 to 2009 under Sir Alex Ferguson. Last season, City’s exit in the knockout stage came at the hands of the eventual champions, Real Madrid, by way of penalty shootouts.
“I’m really over the moon,” said McAtee, who joined City when he was 11 years old. “Every child dreams of it, so this is a dream come true.”
The scoreline could have beewn more of one-sided, as City launched a total of 28 shots, with 14 going on target and three hitting the woodwork.
