Manchester City played their 3rd game within a week at the Etihad Stadium and maintained their usual levels of premium service.
By the end of this 90 minutes of football Manchester City had notched an incredible 14 goals at home in less than a week, conceding only 1. Unbeaten in their last 11 games since a surprising home defeat against Lyon earlier in this competition. City are beginning to build a formidable run of form as they head towards the home derby match against Manchester United, which concludes this run of games.
Last year we also played Shaktar Donetsk at the same stage of the UEFA Champions League, but last year Shaktar set up very differently at the Etihad. Last time they were a quick and powerful side who sat continually on the counter attack against us and their performance, despite losing 2:0, was one of the better ones we saw.
Last night Shaktar sat much deeper and expended much of their effort in a high press, which they were unlikely to be able to sustain for the whole game. This year though Manchester City have worked hard to open up teams who sit deep and press and this game plan quickly bore fruit.
In the early stages of the game there were some poor passes by City but of interest was the way in which they hustled to recover the ball at every opportunity. Also of note was the way in which Gabriel Jesus hassled the Shaktar backline but seemed short of the kind of Brazilian swagger he had when he joined us. Although the Manchester drizzle had dampened his sparkle.
The first Manchester City goal came from some lovely play by Riyad Mahrez, who turned the Shaktar defenders inside out on the right before fizzing a ball across the box which was turned in by David Silva. The second goal turned out to be more controversial, although at the time from my vantage point in the ground, I did not see anything unusual. Raheem Sterling seemed to be through on goal and tumbled to the ground. A penalty was awarded and Jesus scored. Replays showed Sterling had tripped himself up, although he was not aware of that at the time.
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The result was assured within minutes of the second half starting as Raheem Sterling scored a wonder goal. Picking the ball up in the middle of the pitch, he skipped past several defenders before cutting inside and curling a shot into the top corner. From this point, City weathered a better period of play by Shaktar and then stepped up their own performance to make the game safe.
David Silva was fouled in the area and Jesus netted his second penalty of the evening with a well struck kick, high into the roof of the net. The 5th goal came through Jesus intercepting a Shaktar pass in midfield, releasing Ilkay Gundogan who lofted the ball to Mahrez, who struck the ball through the keeper.
The final goal completed Gabriel Jesus’ first hat trick at Manchester City and hopefully has gone some way to restoring his swagger. He broke from midfield released by a sublime pass from Mahrez and the Shaktar keeper was caught in no mans land. Jesus chipped the keeper and there was not enough time to really kick off again.
Another divine performance with some great play and performances. Zinchenko got a full 90 minutes and Gundogan came back after an 8 game absence through injury. It is now time for City to look towards the Manchester derby at the weekend.