Olympiacos 0, Manchester City 1
Phil Foden scored the winner as Manchester City qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 1-0 win over Olympiacos.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt was the fourth goal of the season for the England midfielder who also opened his account for the national team with a brace against Iceland last week.
This was a one sided affair that almost ended with Olympiacos not attempting a shot on goal until the 88th minute while City, who have found it hard to score goals themselves this season, came away with just Foden’s goal to show for their 22 shots on goal, 11 on target.
City’s goalscoring issues continue then, but their defence was untroubled until late in the game when Olympiakos decided to push for a point with less than 10 minutes to go were shut down by City.
City’s bench looked a lot healthier after Pep Guardiola declared that only Nathan Ake was unavailable due to injury.
Olympiacos were hit by a variety of absences for various reasons and couldn’t name the same front three that lost at the Etihad.
Benjamin Mendy started his first game in two months, John Stones started only his third game of the season, while Kyle Walker and Kevin De Bruyne were both rested.
There was a moment’s silence observed in the stadium following the death of Diego Maradona which was announced in the lead up to the game.
There were early chances for Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus as City forced their hosts on to back foot early on.
But after Olympiacos had weathered some intense pressure and stayed compact and deep as they were in debt to goalkeeper Jose Sa for bailing them out several times.
Foden finally broke the deadlock after 36 minutes after some quick incisive passing sliced open the home defence.
Beautiful Phil Foden goal underlines Manchester City dominance but they fail to score more
Ilkay Gundogan’s long ball was seized by upon by Raheem Sterling who went to the byline and backheeled to the England youngster to stroke home past Sa from 8 yards out.
Sa saved again from Sterling while Mendy, who was playing like a left winger much of the time, won a free kick on the edge of the area – and Sa duly saved Sterling’s free kick to concede a corner.
Olympiacos had tried to outfootball City and drew a blank, they didn’t even try a shot on goal in the first half, and Rafinha was booked for trying to rough up Sterling.
Foden had a shot blocked while Gundogan fired wide as City sought out a second goal.
Joao Cancelo was also trying to notch a goal on the night having tried earlier and broke clear but could only shoot at Sa who gratefully made the save when 2-0 looked more likely with a better shot.
Bernardo Silva also tried a cheeky flick past Sa after a ricochet from Sterling fell kindly for him and Foden headed wide into the side netting after meeting a promising Cancelo cross at the back post.
Bernardo Silva fired beyond the back post after Foden put him through.
Olympiakos remained passive and unable to put together any chance for over an hour.
Mohamed Drager was withdrawn after 66 minutes and Marios Vrousai replaced him for the home side.
City brought on Fernandinho, Riyad Mahrez, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Sergio Aguero in the closing stages with the tension rising and Olympiacos threatening a late rally.
Tommy Doyle made his Champions League bow with 4 minutes to go after Gundogan had been booked for pulling the shirt of Kostas Fortounis who was to go on and have a shot on goal for the home side for the first time after 88 minutes – it went wide.
The Greek side had kept their powder dry until the final minutes before launching a final assault but they had left it too late to damage the fragile confidence of the City defence.
GOAL – Olympiacos 0, Manchester City 1
Man City 1: 36. Phil Foden’s strike puts City into a deserved lead after a sumptuous backheel from the byline to the midfielder from Raheem Sterling.
MATCH STATS – Olympiacos 0, Manchester City 1
Olympiacos: Sa, Drager (Vrousai 66), Ba, Semedo, Cisse, Rafinha, Masouras (Soudani 78), M’Vila, Pepe (Bouchlakis 71), Camara, Fortounis
Olympiacos Subs not used: Tzolakis, Vinagrem Androutsos, Papadopoulos, Karargyris, Nikolis, Kitsos, Tsavos, Sourlis
Booked: Rafinha 40 (tangling with Raheem Sterling)
Man City: Ederson, Cancelo, Stones, Dias, Mendy (Zinchenko 78), Rodri (Fernandinho 76), Gundogan (Doyle 86), Sterling (Mahrez 76), Bernardo Silva, Foden, Jesus (Aguero 78)
Man City Subs not used: Carson, Steffen, Laporte, Torres, Garcia, Nmecha, Palmer
Booked: Sterling 40 (tangling with Rafinha); Dias 54 (ungentlemanly conduct, preventing Olympiacos from taking a throw-in); Gundogan 85 (foul on Fortounis)
Goal: Foden 36
Referee: Davide Massa