Manchester City entertained Red Bull Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium earlier tonight as they hoped to win the second leg and progress into the next round of the UEFA Champions League. Pep Guardiola‘s men made a quick start to the game and got their noses ahead via Erling Haaland’s penalty in the 22nd minute. Just two minutes, Haaland doubled Man City’s advantage before going on to complete his hat-trick in the first half injury-time. The home team were leading 3-0 at the half-time break.
Ilkay Gundogan killed the tie in the 49th minute when he got his name on the scoresheet. Haaland went on to score two quick goals in the next eight minutes. Kevin De Bruyne found the back of the net as well in injury time as Man City cruised to a dominant 7-0 win at home. The Mancunian giants ended up winning the Champions League tie 8-1 on aggregate.
Let’s take a look at how each Manchester City player performed during the match against RB Leipzig.
GK: Ederson – 7/10
The Brazilian keeper had to make just one save in the game and earned an easy clean sheet at home.
CB: Manuel Akanji – 7.5/10
He earned the ball back twice and was a real threat in the final third.
CB: Ruben Dias – 7.5/10
Dias didn’t do much wrong at the back and will be quite pleased with the clean sheet tonight.
CB: Nathan Ake – 8/10
He gave a good account of himself on the defensive end of the pitch and was a lively presence on the ball.
CM: John Stones – 7.5/10
Stones made one crucial interception during the game and engineered a decent chance going forward.
CM: Rodri – 7/10
The Spaniard controlled the flow of the game well and made one encouraging run with the ball. He was replaced in the 62nd minute.
RW: Bernardo Silva – 7.5/10
He was a positive influence at both ends of the field but there was no goal for him tonight.
CAM: Kevin De Bruyne – 9.5/10
De Bruyne was unfortunate to hit the post but got his name on the scoresheet late in the game.
CAM: Ilkay Gundogan – 8/10
The German talent caused a few headaches for the opposition defenders and scored his team’s fourth goal early in the second half.
LW: Jack Grealish – 8/10
He caused all sorts of problems for the Leipzig defenders and has got an assist to show for his efforts.
ST: Erling Haaland – 10/10
Haaland scored five goals in 61 minutes which will go down in history as one of the greatest individual performances from a player in a Champions League game.
Substitutes:
RW: Riyad Mahrez – 8/10
He came off the bench and secured an assist.
CM: Phil Foden – 6.5/10
Foden made two promising runs with the ball.
ST: Julian Alvarez – 6.5/10
He had a couple of bright moments in the game.
CM: Kalvin Phillips – 6/10
Phillips added some energy to Guardiola’s midfield.
LB: Sergio Gomez – 7/10
He made a few decent runs with the ball.
