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Manchester Evening News
Sport
Alex Brotherton

Man City international round-up as Riyad Mahrez helps Algeria towards World Cup and young Blues feature

More Manchester City stars were in action on Friday during what is proving to be a busy international break for Pep Guardiola's players. A total of 15 City players were called up for the latest round of fixtures, including friendlies, World Cup qualifiers, Euro U21 qualifiers and the UEFA U20 Elite League. Here's how they got on.

Riyad Mahrez

Riyad Mahrez endured a frustrating Africa Cup of Nations in January as his Algeria side failed to defend their crown by crashing out at the group stage. However, a couple of months on and Algeria's prospects of qualifying for the World Cup look good.

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Having failed to make it to the 2018 finals, Mahrez will be desperate to play at a World Cup for the second time in his career. On Friday night he went halfway to making that a reality by captaining his nation to a 1-0 win over Cameroon in the first leg of the CAF play-off round.

Mahrez didn't have the greatest game of his career, but he will look to seal the deal in the return leg in Algeria on Tuesday. Should Les verts avoid defeat then they will be one of five African sides present in Qatar in November.

James McAtee

James McAtee started England U20s' UEFA Elite League meeting with Poland in Bielsko-Biala on Friday night, but he could do nothing to prevent the young Lions from slipping to a 2-0 defeat. As will come as no surprise to City fans, McAtee was in fact arguably England's best creative outlet on the night.

In the first half the 19-year-old went close to breaking the deadlock, skipping past two opponents en route to the penalty area before his shot was blocked. After two quick-fire goals from Poland McAtee again went close, but his shot went narrowly wide in the final few minutes.

McAtee will likely feature in the U20s next outing against Germany on Tuesday, when he'll hope to continue impressing on the international stage.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Tommy Doyle

Two young City loanees were in action for England U21s at Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium, as they saw off Andorra 4-1 in a Euro U21 qualifier.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Tommy Doyle - both 20 and on loan at Stoke City and Cardiff City respectively - both started the game with the former captaining the side. The young defender and midfielder helped England to secure a fourth win in five qualifiers to put them three points behind group leaders Czech Republic, who have played two games more.

Group winners automatically qualify for the 2023 finals - scheduled to be co-hosted by Romania and Georgia - so with some more good performances Harwood-Bellis, Doyle and co should avoid the need for a play-off.

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