There continue to be ups and downs in the Group A of the UEFA Champions League, which houses the likes of giant clubs like Manchester City and PSG. In the match week 3, Manchester City came into the game against Club Brugge, with a solitary goal of gaining the 3 points. After two defeats on the trot in the Carabao cup, followed by Premier League, City was eager to return to winning ways. While Club Brugge had different goals. They were looking to remain afloat in the group, hoping to end up in a Europa cup position.
Manchester City made an impact on the game from the very first minutes of the game. They exchanged some great passes and picked holes in the Brugge defense at will, which exposed Simon Mignolet on several occasions. But the Belgium keeper remained on his feet to deny City every opportunity until Foden was found in the box by a great pass of Cancelo in the 15th minute of the game and the young Englishman made no mistake with the tap in to score the first goal of the game. Brugge didn’t miss a beat in creating a chance on the other end of the field. A perfect ball from the left by Vormer found Katelaere in the box, who headed it down for Vaneken whose shot on goal was denied by Ederson. But Katelaere was active and got on to the ball before it could go out of bounds. He tried to put in a cross from an acute angle, which got deflected by John Stones to end up as an own goal in the 17th minute of the game. The two teams headed into the tunnel at halftime tied at 1-1.
The second half was a one-sided affair, as Manchester City, who looked like well-oiled machinery kept coming at Brugge. In the 54th minute, Maharez got a free header from a cross delivered by Cancelo, as Brugge defenders were caught napping. He (Mahrez) buried the ball into the net to score the second goal for his side. Later in the 72nd minute, another opportunity opened up, as once again the Brugge defenders were not active enough to pick up the free-roaming right-winger Raheem Sterling. Gundogan found him in enough space to bury the third goal for City by a tap-in. The best goal of the match came in the dying minutes when Jesus curled a low shot in the far corner to make it 4 for his side in the 90+ minutes.
It turned out to be a thrashing defeat for Brugge, following which Manchester climbed up to the top of Group A table, as PSG could only manage to draw their game against Leipzig.
