With every spot in Group G accounted for prior to this evening, the clash was rendered a dead rubber for both sides, but with a record on the line for City, they were in no mood for hanging about. Pep Guardiola fielded an experimental line-up that consisted of debutant 20-year-old Micah Hamilton.
Completely unfazed by the occasion, the youngster who had been at the club since the age of nine, marked his landmark day in style too, jinking into the area before unleashing a ferocious drive high into the roof of Omri Glazer’s net.
Not to be outdone, Crvena Zvezda had a young prodigy of their own keen to get on the scoresheet in 17-year-old Kosta Nedeljkovic, but he failed where Hamilton succeeded, as he could only curl an effort inches wide of the post.
City were never truly sitting too comfortably on a one-goal lead, but in Hamilton, they had a man determined to double his, and City’s, tally for the night. He so nearly did so within minutes of the restart too, when this time playing off the left, he stepped in onto his favoured right foot and bent a teasing strike a hair’s breadth wide of the post.
City didn’t have to wait too much longer for their advantage to be doubled, and again it was one of their up-and-coming stars behind it, as Oscar Bobb burst into the area before placing an effort into the bottom corner to seemingly place the game beyond any reasonable doubt.
But Crvena Zvezda had other ideas and set up an interesting finale when some neat interplay between Osman Bukari and Hwang In-Beom resulted in the latter firing home his first-ever UCL goal.
That was only a temporary reprieve for the hosts, who soon found themselves two goals behind again when Nasser Djiga felled Hamilton in the area, and City’s forgotten man Kalvin Phillips stepped forward from the spot to sweep home his first goal for the club.
That ultimately proved crucial with Aleksandar Katai halving the arrears for Crvena Zvezda in stoppage time, but that goal proved futile in the final result, as City held on to secure a second win in a matter of days and rounded off the group stage campaign on a high.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Micah Hamilton (Manchester City)
Click here to see all the stats from the match.
Leipzig finish off with a win
Emil Forsberg’s second-half winner helped RB Leipzig to extend their winning run at home to five matches as the Bundesliga side ended their UEFA Champions League group campaign with a 2-1 win against Young Boys.
See all the stats and read a full report here.
