Manchester City beat Slovan Bratislava 4-nil last night to pick up their first win of this season’s UEFA Champions League league phase. Pep Guardiola’s side cruised past the Slovakian champions in a dominant display. Before the game, there were several boxes to be ticked by City across the 90 minutes. Come the final whistle the world champions had ticked them all as they almost had the perfect night against Bratislava.
Once the starting lineups were named for last night’s match the hope was that Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden would begin to return to their best form. The pair have both had a slow start to this season for different reasons. But after 15 minutes it was apparent that the duo are returning to their best. Gundogan opened the scoring in the 8th minute with a deflected volley. Foden doubled City’s lead in the 15th minute. But what stood out in their performances was that the rhythm that they both play with at their best had returned. Going forward that is a positive for Manchester City.
Another positive sign was the City defence held a clean sheet. In truth, City’s back four of Rico Lewis, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Josko Gvardiol were rarely threatened. Slovan Bratislava did offer the odd threat on the break, but besides that, City defended well for the most part. That is another thing the world champions can take from last night’s match.
Another positive for Manchester City was there were no injuries suffered by any of the players last night. The last few weeks have seen Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri join Oscar Bobb and Nathan Ake on the injury list. But the world champions got through last night’s game unscathed which is another positive.
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Speaking after the game Pep Guardiola was thrilled with his team’s performance. He was also happy to see his team play in the right manner and get through the game unscathed. Guardiola told the media: “You have to do what you have to do. It’s a joy to be manager of this team. I love it, I love them. To come here with this incredible respect and run and the beginning until 0-2 was easier because they were more open, after that they sat back with what has happened lately with most teams – 18 players in the box so it’s not easy. But we created a lot of chances and I feel we are improving step-by-step how we attack them but we still miss one or two actions. No injuries, players who didn’t play lately had a lot of minutes so a really good night. Just dinner and recover and our last game before the international break.”
Manchester City face Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday in their final game before the international break. They will head into the game full of confidence after an almost flawless performance against Slovan Bratislava. That was what stood out from City’s win in Slovakia last night.