That’ll do for today – thanks a lot for your company! Here’s the match report from Jamie Jackson. Enjoy the rest of the evening’s football, it should be a feast!
There’s a big game coming up for you now! Join Barry Glendenning for the many delights of Atletico Madrid v Liverpool:
Lovely goals from both full-backs, a quite brilliant display from Foden, a composed strike from Palmer after he came on ... lots of really good beats hit there from City, who go top of the group for a couple of hours at least.
Full-time: Club Brugge 1-5 Man City
Utterly imperious from City, who were dominant to a quite incredible level for 75 minutes and played some sensational stuff. Once they went 4-0 up it turned into a basketball match and the final stages were actually rattling good fun, Brugge pressing gamely and City pushing for more. Both sides could have scored more than they did. But make no mistake: this was ominously good from City.
90+2 min: Ake heads waywardly after running onto a chipped Mahrez cross.
90+1 min: We’re into four added minutes, and Sterling’s quest for a goal continues. This time Mignolet denies him with a foot at the near post. He could have had at least three since coming on.
89 min: Ederson makes a smart angled stop from Vormer after some delicious skill from Lang on the left. If only Brugge could have been this full of mischief all game!
87 min: Another good sight for Sterling, who can’t get the right connection on a Cancelo cross to dink it over Mignolet.
86 min: City survive a corner and some ensuing pinball, before Dost clips a decent opportunity wide at the near post. Weirdly this is the most fun period of the game, both teams happy to keep going at it and making all kinds of chances.
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Goal! Club Brugge 1-5 Man City (Mahrez, 84)
But City are able to cut through at will and Mahrez, played in by a lofted Fernandinho pass and onside even though nobody is near him, rampages through before crashing in number five!
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Goal! Club Brugge 1-4 Man City (Vanaken, 81)
Well, they get one back and the crowd love it! Brugge get up a head of steam and begin to look consistently threatening for the first time. Vanaken sweeps in very neatly after a cross from the right is touched on. You can tell they’ve got some really nice players – City just haven’t given them a chance to show it until recently.
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80 min: Fine save from Ederson! In fairness that’s a great move from Bruges and a thrusting header from De Ketelaere that’s bound for the far corner until the keeper flings himself leftwards and paws it away. That’s the sign of a top goalie given he’s had so little to do til the last five minutes. Bruges then make two more changes – Mechele is on for Nsoki and the old poacher Dost replaced De Ketelaere, who has shown a few glimpses of his quality and was unlucky not to score there.
77 min: Sterling mugs a defender and City are three or four against one. He forces a save from Mignolet and then bashes the rebound into the side netting. You can see why he’d fancy a goal but teammates were queuing up there. Brugge would be delighted to keep it to four at this point.
75 min: Could and should be five. Palmer picks out a delightful ball for Walker, who could shoot or give Gundogan a tap-in. He doesn’t really do either and the ball slides across goal and behind.
75 min: Brugge have their best moment of the night, and Ederson very much his first half-awkward task. The keeper is out smartly to deny Van der Brempt at an angle.
72 min: City have just replaced Rodri with Fernandinho. They haven’t really let up today. Let’s see if they can add one more.
71 min: “I watched this game before half-time. It feels like England qualifiers. If you win well you should’ve won anyway. If you don’t win, well good luck against big boys,” portends Yash Gupta, who clearly doesn’t fancy City against PSG. Sterling almost makes it five but fizzes one wide.
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69 min: Brugge bring on someone even younger, replacing the hapless Balanta with the 16-year-old Mbamba. They might as well.
Goal! Club Brugge 0-4 Man City (Palmer, 67)
The subs combine within moments! Sterling gets away down the left and carries the ball towards the box, unselfishly laying it across the edge to Palmer. The youngster takes a touch and then, from 18 yards, curls in majestically with his left foot. It’s his first Champions League goal and what a fairytale start!
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66 min: A yellow for Balanta after an egregious barge on Grealish.
65 min: Here’s Raheem Sterling, coming on for the peerless Foden. And we’ll also see the 19-year-old Cole Palmer, who scored a hat-trick for the under-23s on Saturday within hours of appearing as a sub for the first team against Burnley! He replaced De Bruyne.
62 min: You’re all very quiet. I guess we’re not seeing anything particularly new here. But it’s ... nice to watch over dinner, right? City look for another and Mahrez wins a free-kick just outside the right corner of the box and whips it harmlessly over. De Bruyne doesn’t look hugely impressed.
59 min: City are just relentless here and Brugge look spent.
57 min: Some subs. For Brugge, Vormer replaces Rits and Van der Brempt is on for Sowah. City roll with Ake, in Laporte’s place, and Gundogan for Silva. They may as well rest players now. When play restarts, Mignolet denies Foden from an angle with his feet.
Goal! Club Brugge 0-3 Man City (Walker, 53)
It’s now a case of “how many”. Walker makes a brilliant underlapping run to get on the end of a cute De Bruyne pass and, while Mignolet might do better with the shot I think, he deserves to find the far corner. Superb football and another stellar piece of initiative from a City full-back.
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52 min: A little look in attack for Brugge ends up with a very, very late offside flag.
50 min: A City corner after Silva probes and the indefatigable Cancelo overlaps. They look totally on point here. De Bruyne’s cross, when it comes, meets the head of Hendry – who has played well at the back – and the home side survive.
48 min: It’s nearly three instantly. Mahrez scampers down the right but Grealish and Foden can’t quite make killer contact with his cross, which is well defended by Hendry. Foden takes a clattering in the process but VAR adjudges everything was done legally.
Peeeeep! We begin again
Surely this won’t be a nervy one ...
Ok, nearly time for the second half. If anyone present knows of any reason why City should not win this game comfortably, please declare it now.
Updated
Foden was on another level in that half. The touch, the vision, the weight of the passes – as we saw for the first goal. What. A. Player.
Earlier today, Celtic beat Ferencvaros in the Europa League. Here’s Ewan Murray:
Half-time: Club Brugge 0-2 Man City
It’s almost 3-0 right on the whistle, De Bruyne firing a rasping shot over shortly after Mignolet saved from Mahrez. It has been utterly dominant and professional from City, who scored a lovely opener through Cancelo before Mahrez converted a penalty. Brugge aren’t idiots, but you’d be hard pressed to find a way back for them.
45+2 min: Grealish hounds Mignolet into conceding a throw-in. City have looked, and still look at 2-0 up, so hungry.
45 min: Now Nsoki earns a booking after fouling De Bruyne. Not a good couple of minutes for him. He conceded the penalty after an intricate City move, which saw Dias heavily involved in open play, seemed to have run aground before Mahrez nipped in and beat him to the ball. Nsoki clipped the Algerian and the spot kick was in no doubt.
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Goal! Club Brugge 0-2 Man City (Mahrez 43, pen)
Stroked calmly into one corner while Mignolet dives towards the other. Brugge had just shown signs of a revival there, but this should quash it comprehensively.
Updated
Penalty to Man City
A chance for the game to be as good as over, after Nsoki trips Mahrez.
41 min: It’s whipped in tantalisingly by De Ketelaere, who himself is of a height that might be useful for the six-yard box, but nobody can get a touch.
40 min: In fairness to Brugge, I’d say they have actually steadied things fairly well since the goal. If they can see things through to half-time then we still have a match. They earn their second corner from bright work by Sowah ...
38 min: De Bruyne gives the ball away and Lang works some space for a shot that is charged down before it can get near the goal. The crowd remain excitable though, and I expect will for as long as Brugge are at least theoretically in this.
36 min: A Brugge corner now, Dias shinning behind after a dangerous burst from Sobol down the left. That’s better from them. The set piece causes mild consternation but is scrambled away at the far post.
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35 min: I suspect we may be in “could be three or four if City fancy it” territory. A sumptuous move sees Walker set to tee Foden up for a tap-in until a defender intervenes at the last. They are shifting it around beautifully here.
33 min: The hosts have a problem now, because they’ve had so little chance to put anything together. They try to roar back and Laporte is booked for a foul; it’s a chance to load the box from a decent position. Again, though, they fail to make anything of a rare chance.
Goal! Club Brugge 0-1 Man City (Cancelo 30)
Who needs a striker when you have Joao Cancelo? He really poaches this one, running down the middle onto a sensational lofted Foden pass, taking it on his chest and nudging in coolly. He’s a full-back, supposedly! That was a proper off-the-shelf Pep/City move, and quite superb from both players.
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28 min: There’s a shot though, De Bruyne putting one straight at Mignolet from 12 yards when you’d really back him to score. Another offside flag spares his blushes. Brugge are defending with great discipline, as they did against PSG, it must be said.
26 min: Rodri looks for that pass to Walker again, and this time the right-back hooks over from the byline, but Mignolet is there before Grealish. Again, you need a striker on the end of that really. But again, City are way on top without getting many shots off.
25 min: Yellow card for Mata, who is high and late on a dazed-looking Silva. The City schemer, who is in fine form, takes some treatment but seems alright. It wasn’t a great challenge.
23 min: Brugge attack now and Dias concedes a dangerous left-sided free-kick with a foul on the exciting 20-year-old De Ketelaere. But they waste it, and Ederson claims unopposed.
Updated
20 min: Cancelo whips a delicious low ball just beyond Grealish, who wasn’t placed to tap in. Commentator’s curse but it’s hard not to imagine City winning her, based on early evidence. All they’ve really lacked is a penalty box poacher.
18 min: Lang, the Brugge left winger, is having to operate very much on the back foot and acrobatically stops a perceptive Rodri pass releasing Walker.
16 min: Again Foden finds space in a little pocket to the left of the box, but his pass can’t find Mahrez. You do sense City are a fine margin away from opening Brugge up though.
14 min: Foden fends off Jack Hendry, Brugge’s Scottish defender, but lashes into the side netting. He looks sharp.
13 min: Nsoki prods narrowly wide of his own goal after a sweeping City move, but there was an offside earlier in the buildup. Then Rodri prods in after a well-worked set-piece but is also deemed to be off. City are getting close-ish, but no early goal.
Updated
10 min: One or two signs the hosts are settling. They exert some modest pressure and disrupt City to a degree that will please them, with Sowah looking lively on the right. In their area, though, Grealish thinks he’s in but fouls Mata before lobbing Mignolet. No goal.
7 min: Foden arrows a lovely first-time centre just in front of De Bruyne after some ragged Brugge defending. That’s the first sneaky peek of a chance.
Updated
6 min: It’s a good, controlled start from City though. Guardiola might not know why he picked his team but they look assured.
5 min: Brugge’s manager is the ex-Coventry player Philippe Clement, for fans of the earlyish Premier League years. His team concede a corner but City can’t create anything from it.
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3 min: City make the early running possession-wise, as you might expect, although Brugge do well to force them back into their own half.
Updated
Peeeeeep! And away we go!
City are all in white and shoot right to left against their dark and light blue-striped opponents.
The players are emerging onto the pitch in Bruges ... it’s a big one for City, this, and also for their hosts – the atmosphere is loud and excited ...
Besiktas will play Sporting simultaneously to this game, in what is almost certainly Group C’s wooden spoon/Europa League face-off. Later on in City’s group, leaders PSG host RB Leipzig.
Pep says on selecting Grealish from the start and not Sterling: “The selection in every game we try to do the best to win the game knowing the guys could play the same in the game as well. So don’t ask me why because I dunno.”
That’s cleared that up!
Elsewhere in Manchester, Ole is stating his case:
“Nathan Ake isn’t the only talented Dutch player biding his time as a substitute today,” notes Peter Oh. “A look at Brugge’s team sheet shows that their bench is gathering Dost as well.”
The towering goal machine, still a mere 32, is indeed in town.
The teams
Club Brugge Mignolet, Mata, Hendry, Nsoki, Sobol, Balanta, Rits, Vanaken, Sowah, Lang, De Ketelaere Substitutes Lammens, Shinton, Maouassa, Vormer, Mechele, Ricca, Van Der Brempt, Mbamba, Dost, Izquierdo
Manchester City Ederson, Walker, Dias, Laporte, Cancelo, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Silva, Foden, Mahrez, Grealish Substitutes Steffen, Carson, Ake, Sterling, Gundogan, Jesus, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Palmer
Hello everyone
We’ll be halfway through the group stage after this one and Manchester City would, you’d assume, like to be in the top two of Group A by that point. And what better way to do that than by racking up a few goals against the team that, on paper, ought to be the quartet’s whipping boys?
Not so fast! Because Club Brugge have showed so far that they are pretty decent. Exhibit A: a thoroughly deserved draw against star-studded PSG that could have brought even more. Exhibit B: an excellent 2-1 win at RB Leipzig after falling one behind early on. It is they, not City, who sit behind leaders PSG on goal difference; it’s fair to conclude that they’re, as we say, “no mugs”.
So this isn’t a nailed-on 4-0 away win to which City cruise after a couple of minor early scares. Could end up that way, of course, but City will want to find some balance after losing 2-0 at PSG and outgunning the Germans in that extraordinary 6-3 thriller. So we could be in for something tighter and tenser than what it said on the tin: one thing’s for sure, City’s final three games look that bit stickier if they don’t leave with the win here.
Let’s enjoy it together! Get your emails and tweets in whenever you like. We begin at 5.45pm UK time.
