City cruise past Slovan Bratislava to earn first Champions League win of the season

Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden’s first goals of the season set us well on our way to the victory before the break in the Slovakian capital.

Second half finishes from Erling Haaland and James McAtee – with his first ever City strike - then ensured Pep Guardiola’s side picked up our first three-point haul in the league phase of the competition’s new format.

A dominant City could even have won by more, having 28 shots in total and striking the woodwork three times in front of 22,500 fans at the Tehelne Pole.

This victory made it 12 successive away games unbeaten in the Champions League – our longest such run in the competition.

It also represented our sixth away Champions League win by four or more goals, with each incident coming under the guidance of Pep Guardiola.

What happened

City started the game in charge of possession but actually surrendered the first chance of the evening when a quick break ended with winger Marko Tolic pulling his shot just wide.

However, that proved to be the rarest of forays forward for the home side with City taking charge.

Phil Foden may feel he could have scored before Ilkay Gundogan’s deflected volley from 20 yards instead opened our account on the night eight minutes in.

The German had followed up emphatically after Savinho had struck a volley of his own that he saw cleared off the line.

That marks the first goal of his second spell at City after netting 60 in seven seasons between 2016 and 2023.

Foden also got off the mark in the campaign in the 15th minute, receiving a pass off the right wing from Jeremy Doku and turning in the box before curling inside the far post.

City were in cruise control at that stage, carrying the ball uncontested into Slovan’s final third before searching for a way to break down the hosts’ defence.

Erling Haaland’s first major opportunity of the night came just a few moments after our second, latching on to Rico Lewis’ clever little through ball but seeing his right footed effort turned away by the legs of Dominik Takac in goal.

Jeremy Doku was the next to go close at the midway point of the half, working a yard in the box before curling his left-footed shot and seeing it bounce back off the corner of the crossbar and post.

Foden was inches away from his second just two minutes later.

The Academy graduate hit a daisy cutter from 25 yards that goalkeeper Tokac could only touch on to the post before jumping back up to retrieve the loose ball.

Gundogan was the third City man to hit the woodwork in our final major chance of the first half, leaning back to float a shot from 25 yards that hit the crossbar flush.

WATCH: Slovan Bratislava 0-4 City: Champions League highlights

Our danger man Doku was again at the heart of things immediately after the restart, isolating full-back Kevin Wimmer before laying back to Lewis to shoot from a tight angle.

Seven minutes into the second period, Haaland was the next City man to spurn a chance.

The Norwegian leapt above all others to meet Matheus Nunes’ cross but could only divert the ball wide of the goal.

He eventually did get his goal just a few minutes later, racing through after Lewis’ pass and rounding the goalkeeper before tucking home his 11th goal of a still fledgling season.

In just 41 Champions League appearances, he is now the joint-18th top scorer in Champions League history.

That proved to be the our No.9’s final action before he was replaced by James McAtee, with the Salford-born Academy graduate grabbing his first goal in City colours just over 10 minutes later.

Playing in the false nine role, he received the ball in a crowded box before hammering a bouncing ball low and hard to the right of goalkeeper Tokac.

After two seasons away on loan, the 21-year-old is this season stepping up into Guardiola‘s squad and will be keen to make the most of every opportunity he gets.

John Stones was inches away from adding his name to the scoresheet in the final 10 minutes, attacking a whipped corner and nodding his header just wide of the near post.

The defender appeared to smell the opportunity for a goal of his own, seeing his next header diverted wide by the vigilant Tokac.

Teams

CITY XI: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Stones, Akanji (Dias 60), Gvardiol (Walker 78), Gundogan (C), Nunes, Savinho, Foden (Grealish 78), Doku, Haaland (McAtee 60)

Subs: Ederson, Carson, Kovacic, Bernardo

SLOVAN BRATISLAVA XI: Takac, Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer, Ihnatenko (Zuberu 63), Savvidis, Weiss (C) (Szoke 63), Tolic, Barseghyan, Strelec

Subs: Trnovsky, Hrdina, Voet, Medvedev, Marcelli, Mustafic, Mak, Pauschek, Gajdos, Metsoko

Pep Guardiola reaction

“I know what it looks like but we have to do what we do. It’s a joy to be manager of this team - I love it and I love them,” he said.

“To come here and respect this opponent and run like that. It’s not easy. 

“We created a lot of chances and we are improving step by step, I have the feeling, we missed one or two moments. No injuries.

“Players who didn’t play recently did. Good night and now dinner, recover and play the last game before the international break.”

WATCH: I replaced Haaland to take care of him, says Guardiola

Man of the match

Phil Foden - The 24-year-old is getting closer to his best with every game he plays.

Performing in the central role behind main striker Erling Haaland tonight, Foden found plenty of space between Slovan’s lines and used it to devastating effect.

Receiving Jeremy Doku‘s pass on the half turn, he swivelled and cushioned a beautiful finish into the far corner for his first goal of the campaign.

Having missed pre-season following England’s run to the Euro 2024 final and a few injury concerns since, Foden will now be hoping to use this as a springboard to the form that saw him take a sweep of individual awards last season.

Foden reaction

“I don’t think it was easy, I think it was tough to break them down. You have to give them respect,” he said.

“Like I said, it was difficult to break them down and the atmosphere was unbelievable. We did the job in the end and managed to find the space but it was difficult at times.

“I’m feeling okay now. Back at it. I had a slow start to the season from the Euros, I’m slowly getting there now and getting back to it.

“Very happy with the performance, I know there’s still things I can work on and get better, I’m still a little bit rusty. Like I said I’m happy with my performance and the team performance.”

What it means

City have four points from our opening two games in the league phase of the Champions League.

In the new format, we’ll need to finish in the top eight after eight games to safely progress straight to the Round of 16.

Finishing from ninth to 24th will see us into the play-off round to qualify for the last 16.

What’s next

City welcome Fulham to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 5 October for a 15:00 (UK) kick-off in the Premier League.

After back-to-back draws in the league against Arsenal and Newcastle United, we’ll be looking to get back to winning ways this time around.

Sparta Prague are our next opponents in the Champions League, coming to Manchester on Wednesday 23 October.