BRUGES, Belgium: Manchester City delivered a dominant Champions League performance to sweep past Club Brugge 5-1 on Tuesday and re-emphasize their status as major contenders for a first European title.
Joao Cancelo gave City a deserved lead on the half-hour and Riyad Mahrez converted a penalty just before the break as Pep Guardiola’s side bounced back in style from last month’s loss to Paris Saint-Germain.
Kyle Walker added a third early in the second half and 19-year-old Cole Palmer bagged his first Champions League goal minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Hans Vanaken pulled a goal back to great delight from the home supporters but Mahrez capped a thumping City victory with his second of the night.
The win leaves City side with six points after three games in Group A, with the champions of England and Belgium to meet again in two weeks in Manchester.
Ederson returned in goal for City after flying direct to Belgium last week following Brazil’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers, while Jack Grealish replaced Raheem Sterling in the front three.
Viewed as the weakest team in a group also featuring 2020 semifinalists RB Leipzig, Brugge had surprisingly held PSG to a 1-1 draw in their opening game of the section at the Jan Breydelstadion.
City, facing Brugge for the first time, twice had the ball in the net inside the opening 15 minutes. Grealish’s lob was ruled out for a push on Clinton Mata, with Rodri’s tap-in disallowed for offside.
Phil Foden fired into the side-netting after running onto a long ball, the England international’s free roaming as a false nine constantly troubling Brugge.
It came as little surprise Foden created the opening goal for Cancelo, chipping a delightful ball over the defense that the Portugal defender poked through the legs of former Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.
Stanley Nsoki chopped Mahrez down in the area late in the first half, the Algerian doubling City’s lead as he sent Mignolet the wrong way from the spot.
Mahrez nearly struck again before half-time but Mignolet beat away his first-time strike from Foden’s lay-off.
Walker all but put the match out of reach on 53 minutes when Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne combined, the latter rolling through for Walker to drill low past Mignolet.
Mignolet denied Foden with his legs as City continued to stream forward. Not even a spate of changes could check their momentum as Palmer scored three minutes after replacing De Bruyne.
No sooner had Belgium star De Bruyne walked off to warm applause from the home supporters than Palmer curled in from Raheem Sterling’s assist.
Mignolet saved well from Sterling after he escaped in behind the defense, with Ederson producing a sharp stop to turn away Charles De Ketelaere’s diving header.
Brugge refused to fold and Hans Vanaken steered in a consolation nine minutes from time, but the game finished as it started, with City flexing their muscle as Mahrez burst clear to complete the rout.
Man City crush Brugge to re-energise Champions League push
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Man City crush Brugge to re-energise Champions League push
- Pep Guardiola's side bounced back in style from last month's loss to Paris Saint-Germain
- Cole Palmer, 19, bagged his first Champions League goal minutes after coming on as a substitute
Qatar’s Al-Attiyah wins Stage 6 for Dacia, retakes Dakar lead
- Al-Attiyah, 55, has now completed 19 successive Dakars with at least one stage win every time
RIYADH: Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah will lead the Dakar Rally into its second and final week after winning the sixth stage in the Saudi desert on Friday to take over at the top from South African rival Henk Lategan.
Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner now competing for the Dacia Sandriders, had been second overnight but turned a deficit of more than three minutes into a 6 minutes and 10 second advantage over the 326km timed stage between Hail and Riyadh.
Saturday is a rest day before the rally resumes in Riyadh on Sunday with seven more stages to the finish in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on Jan. 17.
Al-Attiyah won Friday’s stage by two minutes and 58 seconds from teammate and nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, Dacia’s first Dakar one-two, with Toyota’s American Seth Quintero third.
Overall, three different manufacturers filled podium positions with Toyota’s Lategan second and Ford’s Nani Roma third — his first time on the virtual podium since 2019.
Al-Attiyah, 55, has now completed 19 successive Dakars with at least one stage win every time.
Friday was his career 49th stage win in the car category — one off the record held jointly by Ari Vatanen and “Mr Dakar” Stephane Peterhansel.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, father of the Formula One driver and a four-time Dakar winner still racing hard at the age of 63, was in fourth place for Ford with teammate Mattias Ekstrom fifth and Loeb sixth.
American Mitch Guthrie, stage winner on Thursday for Ford, dropped to seventh from sixth.
In the motorcycle category there was no change at the top, although leader and defending champion Daniel Sanders was handed a 6-minute penalty for riding at 98kph in a zone limited to 50kph.
KTM rider Sanders now leads Honda’s American Ricky Brabec, the stage winner after the Australian’s penalty, by 45 seconds with Argentine rider Luciano Benavides more than 10 minutes behind in third.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster all day. Unfortunately, I got a speeding penalty, so that will set me back a bit,” said Sanders.
“I just pushed as much as I could today but it’s hard to do good in the sand, especially opening. I did the best I could and I’ve got to stop making silly mistakes. I haven’t pieced this first week together so well.”
