Villarreal 0 Manchester City 2: match reportHaaland and Bernardo score in comfortable victory for the Blues in Europe
Manchester City were back in action in Europe again this week, travelling to Spain to face Villarreal in their third champions league game of the campaign, following a 2-0 home win over Everton at the weekend. Donnarumma started in goal, Nunes, Dias, Stones, and Gvardiol were in defence. Lewis, Bernardo, and Gonzalez were in midfield with Doku, Savio, and Haaland in attack. City were searching for their first away Champions League win in over a year, having been frustrated by Monaco last time out
City started in first gear and almost got their first goal within 30 seconds after Savio played Haaland through, who instead of shooting, passed to Doku who couldn’t capitalise. For a large portion of the first half, Villarreal struggled to have any meaningful possession with City dominating. After a string of early chances, City broke the deadlock in the 16th minute, through Haaland who scored following a good move from Savio and a pass in from Lewis. A goal to show for City’s early dominance.
In the moments after the goal, Villarreal did make some efforts to equalise. In the 28th minute, Gueye struck a powerful shot towards goal but it was narrowly wide past the post. Minutes after, a cross in towards Pepe seemed to be dropping in towards goal and looked awkward for Donnarumma but he eventually collected the ball, further frustrating the Spanish side. City would then go on to double their lead in the 39th minute through Bernardo Silva, who met Savinho’s cross with his head sending the ball into the right side of the net to put City in a very comfortable position going towards half-time. 2-0
Similarly to the game in Monaco, City were unable to register in the second half despite scoring twice in the first. Doku who has been in fine form recently, had a quiet game and struggled to have any joy against Villarreal’s right back Mourino. In the 57th minute, Nico Gonzalez went down with a problem with his ankle and was shortly substituted afterwards in place of Mateo Kovacic.
Villarreal once again had chances to shorten City’s lead but were unable to do so, struggling to find the target. Pepe missed a variety of chances including a header and had a shot well stopped by Donnarumma. Gueye once again made an attempt at goal in the 70th minute but also fired wide. The closest Villarreal came to scoring was in the 90th minute, after a preventable corner was conceded by City in which the ball rattled the post.
City made more changes, with Reijnders, Marmoush, Cherki, and Bobb coming off in place of Lewis, Haaland, Savinho and Doku and the substitutions saw the game out comfortably to make it 9 games unbeaten for the Blues
The result marks City’s first away European victory since a 4-0 win over Slovan Bratislava last year. They now sit in the same position they did last year after three games, seven points and in the top 8, the less said about what followed, the better and City will hope to keep this form for the remainder of the league stage to guarantee an automatic round of 16 place. City return to Premier League action on Sunday with a challenging game against Aston Villa away, looking to keep pressure on Arsenal at the top.
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