City fightback secures place in Champions League play-offs

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Manchester City F.C.

·29 January 2025

City fightback secures place in Champions League play-offs

City secured a place in the UEFA Champions League play-offs after a second half comeback saw us beat Club Brugge 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium.

With a victory needed to avoid an early exit at the league stage, Pep Guardiola’s side were on the front foot from the early stages but fell behind on the stroke of half-time when Raphael Onyedika stunned the Etihad Stadium.

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But City were level eight minutes after the restart with a superb solo goal from Mateo Kovacic before Joel Ordonez turned Josko Gvardiol’s cross into his own net.

And the nerves were settled further when Savinho added a third with an excellent control and finish from John Stones’ perfect cross-ball.

WHAT HAPPENED

The equation ahead of kick-off was simple for the Blues, only a win would be enough to make it through to the play-off stages.

With the new league format throwing up a huge clash early in the competition, there was a mixed atmosphere of anticipation and anxiety as the game got under way.

Club Brugge needed a point to be certain of a place for themselves and showed an early threat on the break with Christos Tzolis and then Chemsdine Talbi escaping beyond the City defence although they failed to create a shooting opportunity.

The game soon settled into a patient pattern of City pushing the visitors back deeper with Phil Foden flashing the first attempt wide of the goal.

And Ilkay Gundogan thought he had put the Blues ahead after quarter of an hour with a neat first-time finish from Bernardo Silva’s flick-on only for the German to be flagged offside.

With the ball, Stones was pushing high up, sometimes going beyond the midfielders, as City try to overwhelm the Belgian side who were defending in numbers.

Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne were off target with efforts from the edge of the box as the Blues continued to push for an opener against a well-organised side that had conceded just twice in their previous four Champions League games.

The perilous position was made more acute on the occasions Brugge tried to break with Ederson alert to a high ball over the top and making a smart save from Ardon Jashari.

And it was from another quick break that the visitors took the lead just before half-time, with a cross deflecting into the path of Onyedika to rifle home an opener.

Needing two goals to progress, Pep Guardiola immediately went on the attack with Savinho replacing Gundogan for the restart and Foden moving in from the left wing.

He made an instant impact, forcing two early corners, and from the second De Bruyne picked out Stones but his header was agonisingly inches past the post.

Foden curled an effort off-target as City continued to pile forward and we were level eight minutes after a brilliant individual goal from Mateo Kovacic.

The Croatian midfielder picked the ball up in his own half, drove at the Brugge defence before sidefooting a low shot into the bottom corner.

While the momentum was with City, Brugge stuck to their gameplan of playing on the break and Tzolis caused some panic as he brought a good save from Ederson, although he was later flagged offside, and dragging another effort wide.

De Bruyne, meanwhile, forced a good save from former Belgium teammate Simon Mignolet before hitting a volley just wide.

But City finally got a slice of luck just after the hour when Gvardiol and Savinho’s neat one-two put the full-back into a dangerous position and his sharp pull-back was turned into his own net by Ordonez.

The home side kept pushing for a third which could kill off the tie, Kovacic’s dipping shot landing on the roof of the net before Erling Haaland created a chance for himself that was well-saved by Mignolet and Savinho’s follow-up was cleared off the line.

Results elsewhere meant that Brugge were also into the play-offs and the visiting fans were celebrating too when the final whistle went.

TEAMS

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Gundogan (Savinho 46), De Bruyne (Lewis 81), Bernardo, Foden, Haaland.

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Grealish, Wright, Alleyne, O’Reilly, McAtee

CLUB BRUGGE XI: Mignolet, De Cuyper, Ordonez, Mechele, Seys, Onyedika, Vanaken, Jashari, Tzolis (Vetlesen 70), Talbi (Skoras 70), Jutgla (Vermant 71).

Subs: Romero, Van de Heuvel, Nilsson, Nielsen, Jackers, Siquet, Spileers, Sabbe.