After a 5-1 defeat against Celtic on matchday one, Manchester City rolling into Bratislava certainly wouldn’t have been a pleasant sight for Slovan.
And they were on the back foot again from the off, falling behind inside the opening 10 minutes when İlkay Gündoğan reacted quickest to Savinho’s blocked shot and fired home from the edge of the area - his first goal since returning to City.
The Slovakians’ misery was compounded soon after when City doubled their advantage. Jérémy Doku was the main tormentor, angling into the box before finding Phil Foden who curled into the far corner.
After combining for the second, the pair then hit the woodwork. Doku stepped in off the right and curled a sumptuous left-footed effort against the angle of post and bar, before Foden’s effort was too hot to handle for Dominik Takáč, but fortunately he helped it onto the post.
It was glaringly obvious at that point that the Slovan goal was living a charmed life, and that’s dangerous when you have Erling Haaland sniffing around.
The Norwegian eventually got his customary goal and there was an element of simplicity to it, as Rico Lewis threaded through a perfect ball and Haaland rounded Takáč before slotting into an empty net.
Haaland was withdrawn soon after, with boss Pep Guardiola having half an eye on resuming their quest for a fifth-straight Premier League crown at the weekend.
James McAtee was introduced in place of the towering Norwegian, and the City academy graduate vindicated his manager’s faith soon after when he grabbed City’s fourth of the evening, controlling Foden’s delicate pass and smashing home at the near post.
There was a sense that City had taken their foot off the gas by the time the fourth went in, but with the job well and truly done, Guardiola will reflect on it as a good night’s work.
As for Slovan, they’ve faced the harsh realities of the UCL with successive four-goal margin defeats, although they’ll be acutely aware their campaign won’t be decided on games against the 2022/23 UCL winners.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Phil Foden (Manchester City)
