Pauline Bremer had something to prove when she lined up against her former club – and she proved it.

The 21-year-old joined City from Lyon, ready to unleash her goalscoring prowess, having been employed in a defensive role for the French outfit.

By coincidence, the striker’s second appearance for Nick Cushing’s side would pit her against her former employers, providing an intriguing sub-plot to an already-fascinating fixture, which would see the 2016/17 Champions League semi-finalists lock horns once again.

Typically, Bremer would return to haunt her old side, bagging an 86th minute winner all of her own making, robbing goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin of possession and smashing home in a topsy-turvy, thrilling encounter.

City had led 2-0 at the break, courtesy of an Izzy Christiansen double, but were pegged back by Camille Abily’s brace.

Lyon would strike the woodwork no less than five times, as they laid siege on the City goal but it would be the Blues who would snatch victory, thanks to Bremer’s determination.

The German forward was of course, delighted to open her account for Cushing’s side, especially so early in her sky blue career.

She told ManCity.com: “I’m happy. It was my first goal for City and of course, every striker wants to score.

“It’s always nice to win with a late goal. It was a friendly game so the result wasn’t very important but it’s a good feeling.

“It was an unusual goal. I was next to the goalkeeper and I just went for it. I was lucky that she put it straight to my feet.

“It’s always good to score early. You wait for it when you come to a new club – expectations are high and I’m glad it worked out for me.”

Reflecting on a rollercoaster of a match – and City’s learnings from it – Bremer admitted it was disappointing to surrender a two-goal lead but praised her side’s grit and resilience.

“It was a fantastic game,” she declared.

“The most important thing was the teamwork. It was a very difficult game in really hard conditions against an excellent opponent in Lyon.

“We are going to take the positive things out of the game

“We know we have work to do but we are ready to work hard.”