Manchester City are up and running in the Champions League with their first victory, after a 4-0 win over Slovan Bratislava.
Manchester City have moved into four points now, after drawing their opening League Phase game with Inter.
It was a very comfortable night at the office for City against the Slovakian champions, who barely got out of their own half.
City’s quality was simply too much, and in reality, it could have been about eight or nine in the end.
It was good for City to get back to ways after the draw against Newcastle United at the weekend, and also good to see Ilkay Gundogan shine.
The German struggled against Newcastle but did a lot better last night, leading to praise from his manager.
Pep Guardiola lauds Ilkay Gundogan after Slovan Bratislava win, as he drops brutally honest Newcastle verdict
Pep recently admitted that we have not yet seen the best of Gundogan so far this season.
The 33-year-old returned this summer after one season at a Barcelona, and has not quite made the seamless transition everyone thought he would.
He struggled against Newcastle at the weekend.
But against Slovan, he ran things in midfield and of course, opened the scoring. That was his first goal of his second spell with the club.
Pundits Rio Ferdinand and Joleon Lescott suggested after the game that Gundogan might have proven himself as a good replacement for Rodri.
Pep also heaped praise on the veteran, but also delivered a brutally honest verdict on his display at Newcastle.
He said live on TNT Sports: “Yeah today he played at the level that we know he can do it, he has a strong mentality, the game against Newcastle was not really, really good, one of the worst I’ve ever seen from him in the past eight or nine years, but it happens.
“It’s rhythm, it’s why he needs to play. In his position, holding midfielder, he is so intelligent and apart from his goal he made a fantastic game.”
A game Gundogan needed
It was great to see Gundogan really shining last night for City after his uncharacteristic showing against Newcastle.
It just didn’t really click for him against the Magpies, against whom he operated as an advanced midfielder.
He was unusually sloppy at St. James’ Park, but Gundogan totally bossed things in Slovakia, and it was the kind of performance he needed.
Hopefully now, he will kick on from this outing. City have lost Rodri for the foreseeable future and Gundogan stands to get a lot more minutes than was probably planned.
