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Young Boys 1-3 Manchester City Player Ratings – Manchester City were the overwhelming favourites to get a dominant win in this UEFA Champions League Group G game and did just that, but it wasn’t a stroll in the park. They had to dig really deep to not just outwit the opponents but also get the better of the tough conditions in the game.
Pep Guardiola made a lot of changes to his side that defeated Brighton at the weekend. There was a bit of sloppiness in the Cityzens’ performance, but they kept pushing and pushing to get a big win. To their credit, Young Boys tried their best to go toe-to-toe with the European champions and actually caused them some major scares on multiple times, but the gulf in quality ended up being decisive.
Erling Haaland was able to end an embarrassing run of being without a goal for five games in the Champions League by scoring a blistering brace in the second half.
Young Boys 1-3 Manchester City Player Ratings
Contents
Timeline
1′ – Ugrinic’s thunderous attempt is parried away by Ederson.
5′ – Nunes blasts a shot over the bar from close range.
23′ – Haaland gets in behind the defence but his shot is deflected wide of the target.
24′ – Doku skips past a defender and sees his goalbound shot denied by Racioppi.
29′ – Itten goes through on a counter-attack but his weak attempt is easily stopped.
31′ – Grealish finds Haaland in the middle, only for his scuffed shot to be saved.
33′ – Racioppi can’t hold onto Grealish’s shot and Nunes’ attempt on the rebound is cleared off the line.
43′ – Doku’s curling shot is parried away.
45′ – Rodri’s emphatic goal-bound effort is denied by Racioppi.
48′ (Goal) – Dias’ header is tipped onto the bar before Akanji taps in from the rebound.
52′ (Goal) – Elia is played through on goal and manages to chip over Ederson to equalize.
61′ – Nunes gets past a player and powers a shot over the bar.
65′ – Rodri is fouled inside the box and the referee awards a penalty to City.
67′ (Goal) – Haaland makes no mistake in converting the penalty.
71′ – Haaland fails to score a tap-in from close range.
74′ – Alvarez scores with his first touch but sees it ruled out by VAR due to a handball in the build-up.
79′ – Lewis sends Haaland through but the forward is unable to score past Racioppi.
84′ – Silva cuts in from the left and powers a shot wide of the target.
86′ (Goal) – Haaland curls a powerful shot into the top corner.
Star Man – Erling Haaland – 8.5/10
The Ballon d’Or contender had a really eventful outing against Young Boys. Had some trouble playing in the artificial playing surface, but got more and more involved as the game went on. Constantly kept testing the opponents with his powerful shots and saw a few denied really well.
40 – @ErlingHaaland (63) has moved into the top 40 goal scorers charts for @ManCity outright, overtaking @PhilFoden (62). Lacklustre?#ManCity | #MCFC https://t.co/NYu27z0S7R
— StatCity (@StatCity) October 25, 2023
But then he put his side back into the lead with a great penalty and went on to produce a thunderous finish for his second goal. Managed to get five out of six of his shots on target and was a chaotic presence in the frontline before he ended up getting his brace and finally scoring his first few goals of the 2023/24 Champions League season.
Young Boys Player Ratings
Anthony Racioppi 7/10 – Showed impressive shot-stopping skills in saving a number of shots and was unlucky not to deny the first two goals.
Lewin Blum 4/10 – Outwitted and ran ragged by both Grealish and Doku.
Mohamed Camara 6/10 – Dealt pretty well against Haaland for most of the game and produced some great challenges to avert trouble.
Loris Benito 6/10 – Worked hard to cancel out a lot of the visitors’ attacking moves.
Ulisses Garcia 6.5/10 – Did well to restrict a lot of City’s movement on his side and won many key duels.
Joel Monteiro 5.5/10 – Got in a few promising situations, yet couldn’t trouble Ederson with menacing shooting attempts.
Sandro Lauper 4/10 – Failed to restrict the opponents’ movement through midfield or pressure their players.
Cheikh Niasse 7/10 – Produced a great assist for Elia’s goal.
Filip Ugrinic 6/10 – Started the game sharply and helped his side definitely too.
Cedric Itten 5/10 – Broke past his marker at times but unable to really trouble Ederson.
Meschack Elia 7.5/10 – Troubled the Cityzens with his movement and produced a sublime finish for his goal.
Substitutes
Jean Pierre Nsame 5/10 – Not able to really trouble the opposition backline.
Silvere Ganvoula 5/10 – Failed to make use of his fresh legs in the frontline.
Saidy Janko – N/R
Noah Persson – N/R
Darian Males – N/R
Manchester City Player Ratings
Ederson 5.5/10 – Made a few routine stops and totally embarrassed for Copenhagen’s goal.
Manuel Akanji 8/10 – Reliable and composed with his defending in his home country and scored his first goal for the Cityzens in the Champions League.
Ruben Dias 7/10 – Slightly outwitted for the Copenhagen goal, but mostly commanded over a sturdy backline.
Nathan Ake 7/10 – Switched between the centre-back and left-back roles impressively.
Rico Lewis 5/10 – Proactive on the right but got caught out of possession for Elia’s goal.
Rodri 7.5/10 – Untouchable in midfield, helping his side dominate possession and also winning the penalty.
Matheus Nunes 6.5/10 – Added an impressive creative edge with his passes and was unfortunate not to score.
Mateo Kovacic 5.5/10 – Slightly erratic with his passing and unable to create anything major despite persistent attempts.
Jeremy Doku 7/10 – Troubled the hosts with his blistering runs and set up a few promising chances that weren’t converted.
Jack Grealish 7/10 – Tormented the defenders with his unpredictable runs and set up quite a few major chances with his brilliant delivery.
Erling Haaland 8.5/10 – Worked his socks off to get a brace that involved a smart penalty and an emphatic finish.
Substitutes
Bernardo Silva 6.5/10 – Improved his side’s creative edge and nearly scored a great goal.
Julian Alvarez 6.5/10 – Had a goal ruled out and added more incisiveness to his side.
Sergio Gomez – N/R
Kalvin Phillips – N/R
Young Boys 1-3 Manchester City Player Ratings – The final word
Manchester City found their clash against the Switzerland side harder than expected but did not panic under adversity. The players fought through the bad weather and difficulties of the artificial pitch to get another dominant win in Europe and maintain their 100% win rate. One more win can help the Cityzens secure qualification into the Round of 16 with two group games in hand.
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