Pep Guardiola says everyone at Manchester City loves James McAtee and that he is a role to play for his side this season.

The former Academy player came off the bench in our Champions League victory over Slovan Bratislava to score his first goal for the senior side.

McAtee, who has had loan spells at Sheffield United, rounded off a well-crafted move to fire in City’s fourth of a 4-0 victory in Slovakia.

His City team-mates were delighted that he got his maiden goal for the side and Guardiola says he has the quality to make a difference against opponents that sit back and defend.

“Everyone adores him, you have seen the reaction of the players so everyone loves him,” the boss said.

“I have the feeling the same as in the beginning. With teams who play so deep he has the quality to find it.

“He scored and had a few more chances. I always had the feeling that I believe more he can play here than he does. Hopefully minutes can help him and show that he is part of that.

“Of course, he will not be a regular player this season but in a lot of games he will help us and when he plays like he did today I can always count on him perfectly.”

SHOP THE THIRD KIT RANGE

It was a night of firsts for City with Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden getting their first goals of the 2024/25 campaign.

But not for Erling Haaland as he got an 11th goal already this season with the third before McAtee rounded off the scoring.

City also hit the woodwork three times and had plenty of efforts in a game we dominated from start to finish and Guardiola was delighted with the performance.

“You have to do what you have to do,” he said. “It’s a joy to be manager of this team. I love it, I love them.

“To come here with this incredible respect and run and the beginning until 0-2 was easier because they were more open, after that they sat back with what has happened lately with most teams - 18 players in the box so it’s not easy.

“But we created a lot of chances and I feel we are improving step-by-step how we attack them but we still miss one or two actions.

“No injuries, players who didn’t play lately had a lot of minutes so a really good night. Just dinner and recover and our last game before the international break.”