At 0:45 Beijing time on October 20, a match in the third round of The Champions League group stage Group A began to compete, and Manchester City challenged Bruges away. City have won 5, drawn 2 and lost 1 in the league to finish 3rd with 17 points, two points behind top Chelsea at the top of the table. In the Champions League, Manchester City won 1 and lost 1 of their first 2 rounds. In the first round, Manchester City, who played at home, won 6-3 against Leipzig. However, in the second round, Manchester City challenged the powerful Paris Saint-Germain away and lost 2-0, with Guerre and Messi scoring one goal each. This time City's opponent is Brugge. Bruges is the big dark horse of this death group, with 1 win and 1 draw in the first two rounds. But for Manchester City, facing such an opponent must be taken down to be able to take the initiative in the qualifying.
Guardiola lined up in a 433 formation for the match. Edson Moraes as the starting goalkeeper. Cancello, Laporte, Ruben Díaz and Kyle Walker are teamed up at 4 defenders. Bernardo Silva, Rodri Hernandez and De Bruyne make up the 3 midfielders. The attacking combination of Glalis, Foden and Mahrez joined forces. Sterling, Jesus, Fernandinho, Gundogan and Zinchenko sat on the bench. Bruges, on the other hand, are in the 4411 formation, with Vanaken and De Carterell starting out.
After the start of the game, Manchester City, who played away from home, played very strongly, Andrales forced a breakthrough and fell in the box, but was sentenced to fake a fall, and Grarush then picked out the goal and was ruled invalid for fouls. Gralis was a little depressed. Rodri scored a goal afterwards, but was ruled invalid for Laporte's offside. However, the stronger Manchester City scored in the 29th minute, and It was Foden who scored in the forward position and it was Foden who provided the assist. Mahrez then relied on penalties to extend the scoreline. City took a 2-0 lead at half-time. City had 68% possession in the first half, scoring 2 goals on target with 3 shots on target. Brugge only had a poor one-foot shot in the first half, and he was not able to shoot right, and the scene was completely one-sided.
In the second half, Manchester City continued to maintain a high-pressure posture, constantly suppressing Bruges, even sharper than in the first half. De Bruyne assisted Walker with another goal in the 52nd minute. Two full-backs, Cancelo and Walker, both ran to the forward position to score goals, and Guardiola's tactics were amazing. The big lead allowed Guardiola to make a major substitution, with Acker, Gundogan, Sterling and Palmer coming on as a bench. Palmer scored after only 2 minutes on the pitch.
Although Brugge was behind by a large score, he did not give up, and played a beautiful attack in the last minute, winning successive shooting opportunities, of which Vanakken seized one opportunity to complete the goal. But soon Mahrez returned the favor with a goal. In the last minute, Sterling won consecutive one-handed chances, but he did not score, which is really difficult to say. The final score was fixed on me 5-1, and Manchester City beat Bruges. This is the first time in Manchester City's history that he has scored at least five goals in a single away game in the Champions League, and Guardiola has set a new record in team history. At the same time, Guardiola also set a new record in the History league of his own, coaching a team that has scored 5+ goals in 19 single games in the Champions League, at least twice as many as other managers.