Manchester City academy graduate Micah Hamilton scores on his first-team debut at Red Star. Oscar Bobb nets City's second goal on his first start. In-Beom Hwang pulls one back for Red Star. Hamilton wins penalty, scored by Kalvin Phillips for his first City goal.
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Manchester City youngsters Micah Hamilton and Oscar Bobb both scored to help Pep Guardiola’s side to a 3-2 victory over Red Star Belgrade and finish top of Group G with a flawless record.
City joined Liverpool as the only other English team to ever win all six Champions League group games in a season on a defining night for the club's academy in Serbia.
Hamilton, 20, who joined the club aged nine, was handed his first-team debut as one of nine changes and opened the scoring with a powerful effort that crashed into the roof of the net before Bobb, on his first City start, netted the second with a clinical finish.
The highly spirited Red Star hit back through substitute In-Beom Hwang but Hamilton won a late penalty which was converted by Kalvin Phillips for his first goal for the club.
City may have cruised through the group but they were made to work for their victory, Aleksandar Katai heading in from a corner to keep the Serbian SuperLiga side in the fixture until the end.
𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬𝗘𝗥 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦:
Red Star Belgrade: Glazer (5), Nedeljkovic (6), Spajic (5), Dragovic (6), Djiga (5), Mijailovic (5), Hwang (8), Bukari (7), Kanga (5), Ndiaye (6), Olayinka (6).
Subs: Katai (7), Mijatovic (6), Lucis (6), Rodic (6), Kabic (6)
Man City: Ortega (7), Lewis (7), Stones (6), Akanji (6), Gomez (6), Phillips (7), Kovacic (7), Nunes (7), Bobb (8), Grealish (6), Hamilton (8).
Subs: Foden (6), Susoho (6), Silva (n/a), Ake (n/a)
Player of the Match: Micah Hamilton
𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀:
Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish were the only Manchester City players to keep their places from Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Luton.
Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Julian Alvarez, Nathan Ake and Phil Foden all dropped to the bench.
Ederson did not travel along with the injured Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne.
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗦𝗔𝗜𝗗
Guardiola: Congratulations to the academy
Man City manager Pep Guardiola on Micah Hamilton's performance: "What a goal and what a game. I am so happy for him. He is training often with us and we saw his skills one against one. He scored a fantastic goal and made a penalty.
"When he could not make one against one he made extra passes and defensively was aggressive.
"Congratulations to all at the academy for the last years. How many players came up, how many players we sold who are playing already in the Premier League and Championship, and more."
On Oscar Bobb: "It is not easy to give opportunities at this level. It is really good to see them play.
"I think Oscar is the reality. It was a top-class goal. I am very pleased for the result, for the performance in general, the effort from everyone, how the seniors helped the young lads."
On Phillips' penalty: "He is an incredibly good taker of penalties. I know Phil (Foden) has ambition to do it but Kalvin is an incredible penalty-taker. The game was not over, and (it was) for his confidence.
"It was a difficult game. They went man-to-man all over the pitch. They were aggressive, a lot of interruptions, a lot of fouls. It was not easy to play comfortably but in the right moment we found our quality."
𝗢𝗣𝗧𝗔 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧𝗦
Manchester City have become the first English club to win eight consecutive European Cup/UEFA Champions League matches.
Aged 20 years and 30 days, Man City's Micah Hamilton was the fifth-youngest English player to score on his UEFA Champions League debut, and youngest since Marcus Rashford for Man Utd v Basel in September 2017 (19y 316d).
In Micah Hamilton and Oscar Bobb, Man City were the third different club to have two players aged under 21 score on their first UEFA Champions League start for the club in the same game, after Barcelona (Montoya & Roberto v BATE Borisov in Dec 2011) and FC Red Bull Sazburg (twice: Haaland & Szoboszlai v KRC Genk in Sep 2019, Gloukh & Simic v Benfica in Sep 2023).
Kalvin Phillips scored his first goal in all competitions for Man City in his 30th appearance for the club, and his first in 51 club appearances overall across his time at Leeds and Man City, since netting against Crewe in August 2021.
What's next?
Manchester City return to Premier League action when they host Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, kick-off 3pm.
𝗦𝗘𝗘 𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗦
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