Manchester City claimed an emphatic victory away from home as they brushed Club Brugge aside with relative ease

Photo: Stephen Gormley (Red Eye Photo Agency)

Manchester City secured a comfortable 5-1 away win against Club Brugge in their third Champions League group stage match.

From the off, Group A’s underdogs struggled to handle the rapid pace of Pep Guardiola’s ball artists. However, despite significant early pressure and chances, it took City until the half-hour mark to make the breakthrough.

Phil Foden lofted a sensational pass over the Brugge defence into full-back Joao Cancelo who brought the ball with his chest and steered it in with grace.

City monopolized the ball with Foden through the middle and both Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva pushed very high up the pitch in the early stages. The hosts struggled to get on the ball and restricted themselves to try and pick off City on the counter as they looked to exploit the visitors’ high line with youthful star strikers Noa Lang and Charles De Ketelaere.

The match was over as a contest by the 43rd minute when Riyad Mahrez converted a penalty after Brugge’s Stanley Nsoki brought him down inside the box. Jack Grealish and De Bruyne, regaled by the away fans, should have added a third before the break but failed to do so.

The inexorable force of City’s attack was too much to deal for Brugge in the second half. It was now a question of how many goals Guardiola’s team would score as Kyle Walker scored the third, becoming the 17th City player to score this season in another stellar piece of initiative from a City full-back.

The full-back position has always been important to Guardiola’s system, but perhaps even more so this season as they help link the play up with De Bruyne in a restricted role.

In the 65th minute, the Belgian got an ovation from the home fans when Guardiola replaced him with Cole Palmer, who enjoyed a dream debut curling a majestic finish past a helpless Simon Mignolet for City’s fourth.

Outclassed, outmanoeuvred and outran, Brugge’s defence was at times comically exposed, but they were rewarded for their relentless commitment with a late consolation goal from Hans Van Aken that could however not mask the immense gap between the two teams. Minutes later, City had the last word when Mahrez wrapped up a routine, yet imperious, 5-1 victory.

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