Man City 3 – 1 Sevilla
Rico Lewis became the youngest player to score on his first Champions League start as he sparked a Manchester City comeback in a 3-1 win over Sevilla.
The 17-year-old right-back coolly slotted home the equaliser after Rafa Mir had headed Sevilla into a shock first-half lead.
City had to call for Kevin De Bruyne from the bench in search of a winner and he delivered within three minutes, setting up Julian Alvarez with a wondrous assist – his 12th of the season. Alvarez then grabbed his second assist of the night when setting up Riyad Mahrez to make the game safe as City finished top of Group G.
The last-16 draw, for which Man City will be seeded, will be held at 12pm on Monday November 7.
Rico Lewis, remember the name…
Guardiola resisted the urge to bring Erling Haaland back into the fold after the goalscoring machine had been suffering with a virus and a foot injury – he’s likely to be ready for the clash with Fulham on Saturday.
City’s last two games in the Champions League both finished 0-0 and they failed to score in a lacklustre first-half showing. Sevilla, meanwhile, carried the greater attacking threat and Rafa Mir had already had two looks at goal before opening the scoring on 31 minutes. It was really poor defending from City’s point of view as Mir was left in three yards of space from an Isco corner to loop a header into the far corner.
City had nine shots before the break but only one of those hit the target. Guardiola switched his tactics at half-time by bringing off Jack Grealish and adding another central midfielder into the game with Rodri.
That allowed the two City full-backs to play more as wingers rather than inverted midfielders and it was Lewis – born in 2004 – that grabbed the equaliser. A successful high press left Sevilla outnumbered and Alvarez threaded a perfectly weighted ball through for Lewis, who kept his cool impressively for someone so young and scored with a fine finish.
Despite the leveller, City struggled to find space up against the Sevilla low block and Guardiola called for De Bruyne off the bench. Alvarez had been making some fine runs in behind the Sevilla centre-backs all evening but no one possessed the vision to find him until De Bruyne picked up the ball on the halfway line and spun a sensational ball in behind that he latched onto. From there the striker rounded the goalkeeper and fired home into the roof of the net.
Mahrez looked like he was feeling sorry for himself at times after a rusty start to the season but his mood improved with eight minutes left, hammering home a superb finish after being found by an unselfish Alvarez pass.
What’s next?
Wednesday 9th November 7:00pm
Kick off 8:00pm
Man City have three more games before the World Cup break. They host Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday; kick-off 3pm. They then face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday November 9, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 8pm.
Their final match before the World Cup is on Saturday November 12, when they host Brentford in the Premier League; kick-off 12.30pm.
Sevilla have two further La Liga fixtures to play, against Real Betis and Real Soceidad, before a Copa del Rey match against Velarde on Sunday November 13.
