Champions League: Man City dismantle Sevilla

It was supposed to be a tricky evening for Sevilla in their Champions League opener against Man City.

And it turned out exactly as per the script.

A hammering at the hands of Manchester City has left the Andalusian city in a pall of gloom.

It took Man City just 20 minutes to break Sevilla’s resistance.

A makeshift central defensive partnership of Tanguy Nianzou and Jose Angel was shredded by the slick passing moves of the men in blue.

The first goal happened when Haaland converted Kevin De Bruyne’s cross to score his 11th goal in seven games.

He also became the fourth player in Champions League history, after Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fernando Morientes and Javier Saviola, to score in his first appearance in the competition for three different clubs. (Man City, Salzburg and Borussia Dortmund)

No wonder the local newspapers carried headlines “El Coco” – loosely translated to  “a monster is coming to see you”.

Sevilla sent on striker Rafa Mir at halftime in an attempt to offer a greater attacking threat.

However, this failed spectacularly as Phil Foden completed a smart dribble and finished by placing the ball on the goalie’s left.

Foden looked for his second in the 67th minute and, when Sevilla goalkeeper Bono parried his strike, Haaland was there to bang in the rebound.

This was the Norwegian’s 25th Champions League goal in just his 20th appearance.

Guardiola removed the Norway superstar shortly afterwards.

This meant there would be no third hat-trick of the season.

However, the goals continued to flow as Ruben Dias converted a cross from the excellent Joao Cancelo to complete the rout, in stoppage time.

Almost immediately, the boos started raining down from the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stands as Sevilla suffered their fourth defeat in five games.

Sevilla was totally ineffective and had a miserable night.

Their only attempt at goal was when Alejandro Gomez hacked a bouncing ball wastefully over five minutes before halftime.

Pep Guardiola handed a City debut to Manuel Akanji and a first competitive start to Sergio Gomez.

Sevilla were once again booed off the pitch by their own fans.

That is becoming a trend and it looks increasingly likely that the axe will fall on Lopetegui any minute.

Goals and assists

Erling Haaland (Kevin De Bruyne) — 20th min.

Phil Foden (Joao Cancelo) — 58th min.

Erling Haaland (Phil Foden) — 67th min.

Ruben Dias (Joao Cancelo) —90th+2 min.