Manchester City 3-1 Club Brugge: Savinho stars as City rescue their European dream

Manchester City came back from behind to defeat Club Brugge 3-1 and keep themselves alive in the UEFA Champions League.

Their first half performance was stale, with their high line allowing the visitors to create more than enough chances to take the lead. When they did, through Raphael Onyedika just before halftime, it felt like an inevitability had come to pass.

But the second half was different. Savinho’s introduction breathed life into the hosts, who first levelled through Mateo Kovačić before an own goal from Joel Ordóñez gave them the lead.

When Savinho scored one for himself with 15 minutes left to play, it proved one too many for the visitors to recover from – and saw City through in the process.

As it happened

That was a close call. Closer than almost everyone expected, and certainly far closer than anyone invested in Manchester City would have hoped for, but despite the rockiest of starts to the season, they have survived the first round of the UEFA Champions League – even if it didn’t look like they’d cross the line at first.

Club Brugge started the more coordinated side, with a game plan from which they didn’t stray. Sit back, hold, wait for mistakes. When those mistakes came, the visitors were able to pounce with danger every time. Manchester City’s defensive line was absurdly high, so the counter attack was the order of the day.

They first found themselves in behind in the third minute; Christos Tzolis ran at the backline, fizzed the ball across the face of goal and found no one. Again, on six minutes, the wingers were causing the hosts issues; Chemsdine Talbi this time the man to exploit the defensive line before playing a cross much too close to Ederson. The end product wasn’t yet there, but the warning signs were.

For City’s part, they tried (with a degree of abjection) to do what they always do. Particularly in the first half, it was a case of blue shirts cramping themselves around the edge of the box, while black shirts occupied the centre.

The result? Passing. Lots and lots of passing, occasionally forward but often sideways. Hopeful and patient perhaps, but a cynic might argue they looked out of ideas.

Still, they fashioned the occasional chance. Phil Foden would fire wide in the 14^th minute from a tricky angle, and they would put the ball in the net two minutes later. Bernardo Silva headed the ball to an offside Ilkay Gündoğan, whose drilled finish was chalked off with haste.

By the 26^th minute, Manchester City had played 133 passes to Club Brugge’s 39; by the 33^rd, the hosts had amassed 76% of the ball. And with that domination, they created little of any significance.

Instead, the big opportunities came at the other end of the pitch. Maxim De Cuyper gifted Tzolis a golden chance just inside the box come 36 minutes, the effort blocked by the head of Manuel Akanji before falling to Onyedika to fire wide.

Ederson was forced to sweep up much closer to the halfway line than most keepers would be comfortable and then made to dive low to prevent a distance goal from Ardon Jashari.

And then, right at the end of the half, the inevitable.

After a blocked Gündoğan shot at one end, Hans Vanaken picked up the ball and drove down the other. The City backline was retreating from its habitual spot on the halfway line and Ferran Jutglà was well and truly on the move. Once he received the ball, he jinked past Matheus Nunes as if he wasn’t there before reaching the byline and cutting the ball back to Onyedika on the edge of the area. He’d missed once already, but not this time; the shot was driven, fierce, and buried into the bottom corner.

For the European champions of 2023, the situation looked dire. Manchester City were 45 minutes away from the most embarrassing of early eliminations, their fate resting on a stellar second half performance.

In the first half, City looked like a pale imitation of sides from years gone by. Instead of opening defensive doors with their skeleton key, able to break down any and all obstacles, they haphazardly picked at the lock.

So, in the second half, Pep Guardiola changed tact. Why try and pick a lock when you can blow the door off altogether? Manchester City were now going direct, Savinho brought on at the break to help them achieve that.

Eight minutes into the half, the tactic shift worked. Kovačić picked up the ball on the halfway line and, instead of forcing a pass, he just ran. And he ran. And he ran some more, until suddenly, he was on the edge of the area with a sight of goal. Easy does it; his shot rolled into Simon Mignolet’s bottom right corner. City were level and alive.

The hosts may have woken up, but Club Brugge were not out of the competition yet; only three minutes after the equaliser, Vanaken might’ve put the Belgian champions back in front had Ederson not spread himself to smother a golden chance.

But Ederson did save, and City started to take control. Then, just after the hour mark, they consolidated their power.

It wasn’t without a fair slice of fortune. The interplay between Savinho and Joško Gvardiol which played the latter in behind was all skill; the cross into the six-yard box tapped into the net by Club Brugge centre half Ordóñez, however, was luck. But City didn’t care; they’d turned it around, progression to the play off round of the Champions League now in their sight.

Fifteen minutes from time, two became three, Guardiola’s halftime substitution not only involved once more but now on the scoresheet. Again, it was directness which broke Brugge down; one ball over the top of the defence from John Stones, a tremendous touch from Savinho to take it past Joaquin Seys, and one drilled finish through underneath Mignolet to finish the job.

With memories of the Feyenoord collapse still fresh in City heads, they had to be wary to keep their lead (large though it was), but they appeared to have learned their lesson. Manchester City held on, qualification to the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League confirmed.

It may not be where they wanted to be at the start of the season, but for them, it’s better than the alternative. They’re not through to the round of 16 just yet, but they’re not out of Europe either – and that’s better than nothing.

Luckily for Brugge, the outcome was identical. A 24^th place finish means, by the skin of their teeth, they’re still alive and kicking in Europe.

In a clash labelled as ‘do or die,’ Manchester City did. And, inadvertently, their opponents did too.

The lineups

MCI: Ederson; Gvardiol, Akanji, Stones, Nunes; Kovačić; Foden, De Bruyne, Gündoğan, Silva; Haaland

CLU: Mignolet; De Cuyper, Mechele, Ordóñez, Seys; Jashari, Onyedika; Vanaken; Tzolis, Vanaken, Talbi; Jutglà

FEATURED IMAGE: Bardhok Ndoji