(VIDEO) Haaland fails and Julian Alvarez saves Man City against Red Star Belgrade

Manchester City had a tougher than expected Champions League debut. The defending champions had to work hard to beat Red Star Belgrade at the Ettihad Stadium and were even down on the scoreboard, but in the second half things worked out and they got the goals they needed.

During the first 45 minutes, The Citizens dominated the ball and the field and had many chances to score, but lacked the accuracy needed to overcome the resistance of goalkeeper Omri Glazer, who stood out with several good saves against Julian Alvarez, Nathan Aké and Phil Foden. And in the end, the visitors surprised everyone with a goal by Osman Bukari, who received a great assist from Hwang In-Beom and scored the opener.

In the second half, Pep Guardiola's team did not repeat the same mistakes as before and quickly netted the equaliser through Julian Alvarez. After 2 minutes, the Argentine striker received the ball outside the box and gave a pass to Erling Haaland, who assisted him to dribble past the goalkeeper and score his team's first goal. And 15 minutes later Alvarez again made the difference, this time with a free kick that goalkeeper Glazer was able to block.

In the following minutes Haaland had several chances to score, but surprisingly missed and failed to do so. Manchester City's third goal came from Rodri, with a great individual play and a beautiful shot near the post.

Everything goes well for them

Manchester City's start to the 2023/24 season is perfect. They have won all 5 matches they played in Premier League and are leaders of the standings with 15 points, while in Champions League they started their participation in group G with a victory. This allows them to be also leaders together with RB Leipzig, who beat 3-1 in Switzerland.