Vital wins over Leeds and Brighton kept our respective Premier League title ambitions and FA Women’s Super League Champions League qualification prospects alive.
And further emphatic triumphs for our Elite Development Squad (EDS) and Under-18s over Everton and Newcastle ensured both sides lifted back-to-back league titles in style.
With two hat-trick heroes and a further four-goal haul to boot, each of our sides averaged just shy of an astonishing eight goals per game across the weekend.
Relive a truly memorable round of fixtures, including highlights, statistics and post-match reaction below…
City 7-0 Everton Under-23s
Brian Barry-Murphy’s youngsters rounded off a memorable Premier League 2 campaign with a convincing triumph over Everton on Friday night at the Etihad Stadium.
City had already sealed successive PL2 titles following a 3-1 win at Leeds in our penultimate match of the season but rounded off the campaign with an emphatic display.
Cole Palmer curled home the opener with typical flamboyance before turning provider for Rico Lewis on the half hour.
But the crowning moment of a fantastic individual display from the midfielder came five minutes later, when he curled an inch-perfect free-kick into the top corner of the Toffees’ net.
Kayky added a fourth after linking up with Oscar Bobb, before a Liam Delap brace and clinical low finish from Darko Gyabi rounded off the scoring.
An incredible campaign, in which we became only the second team in history to retain the PL2 title, was typified by our form since the turn of the year, in which we remained unbeaten for 11 matches, scoring 31 times while conceding on just nine occasions.
City 7-2 Brighton Women
Another seven-goal triumph followed in Saturday’s early kick-off as City gave our prospects of Champions League qualification a major boost against Brighton.
Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw was on target inside three minutes at the Academy Stadium, finishing off Demi Stokes’ impressive solo run with a clinical finish.
The Jamaican grabbed a second following Lucy Bronze’s cutback soon after, before Caroline Weir poked home on the rebound from another Shaw chance to make it three inside 16 minutes.
But the visitors rallied after their sluggish start and pulled two back before the break, Inessa Kaagman smashing home a penalty before Julia Zigiotti swept home on the counter.
Undeterred, City were back to our clinical best after the break with Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp – making her 100th appearance for the Club - adding further gloss to the score while Shaw also took her afternoon’s haul against the Seagulls to four with a further second half double.
Following the game, City’s four-goal heroine reflected: “To get four is an unbelievable feeling. That’s the objective, that’s what my team looks to me for: to score goals.
“Chloe Kelly asked me what I had for breakfast! It was the same thing I had for breakfast all year!
“It was my day and I just have to keep going. It’s a good feeling but we keep growing as a team, keep pushing.”
City 13-0 Newcastle Under-18s
One hour after City’s emphatic triumph over Brighton, Ben Wilkinson’s youngsters marked our first match since being crowned Under-18 Premier League North champions with a double-figure victory over Newcastle.
A hat-trick apiece for Will Dickson and Nico O’Reilly, braces from Carlos Borges and Josh Adam plus further strikes from Kian Breckin, Adedire Mebude and Matty Whittingham set us the way to our greatest winning margin this season.
And the celebrations continued afterwards as City lifted the Under-18 Premier League North trophy for a second successive year in what was our final home match of the season.
Our incredible record at the City Football Academy has provided the cornerstone of our latest title success, with Wilkinson’s youngsters remaining unbeaten across the entire campaign on home soil.
Indeed, we picked up 12 more points than any other side in our home matches this season, scoring 50 times and conceding on just eight occasions in the process.
Wilkinson was, understandably, delighted with the performance, but has called for his players to maintain that form in our final two matches of the campaign.
He said: “It was a great way for the lads to celebrate, it was nice to win it and get the trophy on home soil rather than being away, so it’s been a great day for us.
“I think we can be really pleased in terms of the development and improvement in performances, the work ethic the players have shown throughout the year and the commitment to the style we expect them to play in.
“It would be really nice if we can cap it off by getting over the line in these last two or three games and ultimately win the National final”.
Leeds 0-4 City
With our Women’s, EDS and Academy sides sharing an astonishing 27 goals between them, the pressure was on Pep Guardiola’s men to follow suit in Saturday’s 17:30 (UK) kick-off.
And City did not disappoint, putting Leeds to the sword at Elland Road in a convincing Premier League triumph.
Rodrigo headed home an early opener for the visitors before Nathan Ake hooked home from another set piece soon after the restart.
Gabriel Jesus added a third with his sixth goal in the space of a week, before Fernandinho marked his 260th Premier League appearance – a new record for a Brazilian – with a thunderous late strike.
It meant City moved back above Liverpool to the Premier League summit with just four games remaining and have now kept five successive clean sheets on the road in the English top flight, our best run in the competition to date.
Indeed, our only defeat on the road this season came in our opening game of 2021/22 away to Tottenham Hotspur.
