Slovan Bratislava 0-4 Manchester City: Guardiola´s men up and running in Champions League

Manchester City got their Champions League campaign up and running with a 4-0 rout of Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday, with Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and James McAtee scoring.

The Premier League champions set up camp in Slovan’s half and laid siege to their goal for the duration of the contest at the Stadion Tehelne Pole.

They only needed eight minutes to make the breakthrough as Gundogan scored his first goal since returning to the club after a single season at Barcelona, with his shot deflecting in off Kyriakos Savvidis.

Foden then doubled City’s lead with his first goal of the season in the 15th minute, latching onto a pass from Jeremy Doku and curling a strike into the bottom corner.

7 – Phil Foden is one of only four players to have scored in each of the last seven UEFA Champions League campaigns (since 2018-19), along with Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann. Fixture. #UCL pic.twitter.com/Q5RyzLc0oC

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 1, 2024

Haaland killed the game as a contest just before the hour mark, sprinting onto Rico Lewis’s pass then stepping around goalkeeper Dominik Takac before slotting into the empty net for his 42nd goal in Europe’s premier club competition.

Foden then added an assist to his earlier goal in the 74th minute, teeing up youngster McAtee for his first ever City goal with a dinked pass.

City, winners of the 2022-23 Champions League, opened this season’s campaign with a 0-0 draw with Inter and now sit fourth in the standings. Slovan, meanwhile, are 35th after also losing 5-1 to Celtic on matchday one.

Data Debrief: City equal United record

City’s victory saw them stretch their unbeaten run in the Champions League to 25 matches, with a penalty shoot-out defeat to Real Madrid last season the only blot on their record since the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

It is the joint-longest streak in the competition’s history, alongside Manchester United’s run between September 2007 and May 2009, which included them lifting the trophy in 2007-08.

With victory over Slovan Bratislava tonight, Manchester City are now 25 games unbeaten in the Champions League, equalling the competition record for the longest unbeaten run in history (including European Cup era).https://t.co/SKQ5PL0GoF

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) October 1, 2024

City have won 17 and drawn eight of their matches in that run, plundering 64 goals to just 38 by United on their streak.

They will have the chance to overhaul their neighbours outright on matchday three, when they host Sparta Prague.