Manchester City thrash Club Brugge 5-1 to stop home side unbeaten run in Champions League
Bruges had a buzz about it over the last day or so, the restaurants and cafes full of locals desperate to discuss Kevin De Bruyne. Some even desperate to pass well wishes onto him, presuming anyone over from Manchester had the guy on speed dial.
De Bruyne was born almost an hour away in Gent. There is no obvious connection between him and Club Bruges but regardless, this was a homecoming. The boy done good, back playing a first club match in Belgium since leaving for the Premier League riches all those years ago.
This place was so hospitable that even Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, the tune Manchester City’s supporters use to serenade their talisman, soundtracked his warm-up.
As De Bruyne departed the scene with this game well won two hours later, all four sides of Jan Breydelstadion rose as one to afford one of this country’s finest products a standing ovation. You would not see that in England. This was not all about De Bruyne though. This was about the young lads: Phil Foden and Cole Palmer.
Suggesting that anyone will surpass De Bruyne’s importance to this team borders blasphemy, but Foden must go pretty close at some point soon.
The majority of City’s big moments in reaching last season’s Champions League final had Foden’s prints all over them – none of their players have contributed towards more European goals over the last 12 months – and he is knitting Pep Guardiola’s strikerless unit together wonderfully at the moment.
He was again their standout but another star continues to emerge – even younger than he. Palmer, 19, is a name worth remembering, sauntering on when replacing De Bruyne as if this was all very normal. Two minutes later, he had scored City’s fourth of the night.
A trademark Palmer finish off the right, collecting a pass and curling left-footed into the far corner. Smooth, a forward playing with silk. He is an exceptionally special talent and, after a quick substitute appearance in Saturday’s win over Burnley, hopped over Ashton New Road to score a hat-trick for the club’s Under-23 team. The new Foden before Foden has even fully flourished. A scary prospect.
Pep Guardiola will enjoy having the development of these two on his CV and this victory put City back in the driving seat to reach the knockout stages again. They went in at half-time two up, having two others disallowed, to underline a performance of pure dominance, a professional dispatch of the unfancied who had already upset Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig in this intriguing group.
Foden crafted the first, dropping deep from his false nine station with the nonchalance of a man who knows these are the sorts of occasions he now orchestrates. At this point, half an hour in, City were in supreme control yet still without reward.
From a crowded midfield, Foden saw the penetrative Joao Cancelo galloping from left back – darting between three defenders – and took on quarterback duties, clipping perfectly into space. Cancelo’s exemplary chest control took him past an agitated Clinton Mata, the Portuguese ignoring a clear shove in the back to slip underneath Simon Mignolet.
Where does Guardiola play Foden now? Stick him anywhere and he runs all the plays, directs all the traffic, but for the minute, the central striker’s position looks the best bet given the energy and conviction to his game. City’s and England’s future, both sides will be built around him in the coming years. The six-year contract that will be announced imminently is music to the club’s ears.
But back to feverish Bruges, where City continued to plough on. Occasionally alert to a break away but suffocating another opponent, whose back four looked like they had been through an overly aggressive tumble-dryer at the end of one particular move, switched from side to side at pace, which would have gone close in any goal of the season competition.
The second will not, Riyad Mahrez sending former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet the wrong way from the spot just before the break. Mahrez won the penalty himself, Stanley Nsoki’s lazy challenge grounding the Algerian, and effectively sealed the hosts’ fate.
It ought to have been plenty more, time and again crosses begging to be finished inside the six-yard box harmlessly rolling clear. Rodri and Jack Grealish saw goals chalked off for a marginal offside and gentle push respectively.
Kyle Walker got in on the act, latching onto De Bruyne’s clever throughball to slide past Mignolet before Raheem Sterling scamped through to pick out Palmer for his second senior goal. Hans Vanaken swept in a consolation, although there remained time for Mahrez to end the rout. Mahrez now has seven goals in his last seven European games, as integral as Foden during last year’s run to the final. This offered signs that reaching another showpiece is not beyond them.
