Manchester Cityvs
AEK AthensManchester City needed less than a quarter-hour to set the tone. Elliot Anderson opened the scoring in the 12th minute, and from that point AEK Athens were always chasing a game they were never quite equipped to win.
Phil Foden made it two before halftime, finishing off a Rico Lewis assist in the 34th minute to send City into the break looking comfortable. Sixty-three percent of the ball, eight corners already working, the whole familiar machinery humming along. Our pre-match read had City as heavy favorites at 83%, and nothing in the first half gave you any reason to argue.
The Brief Scare
Then came the second half, and AEK Athens did something about it. Stavros Pilios pulled one back in the 52nd minute — Zini with the assist — and suddenly the Greek side had a foothold. For about five minutes, the Etihad was a touch quieter than it wanted to be.
It didn't last. Cabal, that was the moment City decided to end the conversation. Rayan Cherki, set up by Foden, restored the two-goal cushion in the 57th minute. Josko Gvardiol picked up a yellow card two minutes later — the only booking of the night — but City never looked rattled.
Foden Takes Over
El chispudo de Foden, always finding the right moment. He scored his second of the night in the 65th minute, Rico Lewis picking up his second assist of the evening, and then completed the hat-trick in the 76th with Ryan McAidoo delivering the final pass. Three goals, two assists — the kind of performance that reminds you why he's the first name on the team sheet.
The final numbers back up what the eye test told you:
- Shots: City 17, AEK 11
- Shots on target: City 7, AEK 3
- Possession: City 63.6%, AEK 36.4%
- Passes: City 680 (90% accuracy), AEK 387 (90% accuracy)
AEK actually matched City's pass accuracy and got their shots off — 11 is not nothing — but only three troubled the keeper. City's saves total of two tells you how little genuine danger Athens created after Pilios's goal.
For AEK, the 52nd-minute strike will feel like a small consolation. They came in with a decent run of form — one loss in five — and showed enough in patches to suggest they're not here just to make up the numbers. But the gap in quality was real, and five goals against a side that didn't concede cheaply all fall is a tough result to spin.
For City, the question now is whether this kind of performance becomes the standard again. Foden in this mood is a different proposition entirely, and if Lewis keeps finding him the way he did tonight, the rest of the Champions League group will be taking notes.
Follow live scores and results across every major competition on the FutbolToday homepage, and find more analysis in our guides.