Right then, my goose is cooked. Bye!
Updated
Pep Guardiola is pleased with his side’s work:
Exceptional first half. The second half we struggled, for some moments. But when we scored the second one the game was over. of course, a good game, nine points, we need one more point to qualify. Now it’s good, we have four or five days to recover well and focus on Liverpool. At 1-0 it’s difficult, especially in Europe and they had one or two chances. Unfortunately when we controlled we could not finish the game. But finally with an incredible goal from Gabriel and one from Joao we could win the game. In general it’s good news for him, for Gabriel, for all of us. In general it was a real, solid performance, especially in the first half, and the reason we struggled a bit is we could not score the second one. Now the guys need a little break. We have time this time to prepare for the [next] game.
Jamie Jackson’s match report has now landed:
Manchester City have a maximum nine points in a group stage that is going perfectly. Factor in a fine display from Ferran Torres and Gabriel Jesus’s goal-scoring appearance as a substitute following a long lay-off and Pep Guardiola can be pleased. His team are rolling along impressively, showing signs of the formidable force they can be.
Much more here:
Gabriel Jesus has a smile on his face and seems chuffefd with his goal. “I think it was an amazing finish,” he says.
While you wait for the report on this match to land, you may care to read about Liverpool’s Bergamo-based goal glut:
The Group C table in full:
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man City | 3 | 8 | 9 |
| 2 | FC Porto | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | Olympiacos | 3 | -4 | 3 |
| 4 | Marseille | 3 | -7 | 0 |
Final score: Manchester City 3-0 Olympiakos
90+4 mins: It’s all over! City weren’t at their best, but they were more than good enough and with nine points from three games they have a foot in the knockout rounds already.
90+3 mins: Holebas steamrollers Cancelo and concedes a free-kick, giving him a chance to execute one of those what-me-guv gestures that Watford fans will know so well.
90+2 mins: So not that encouraging, then.
GOAL! Manchester City 3-0 Olympiakos (João Cancelo, 90 mins)
Olympiakos give the ball away in their own half, and Cancelo trades passes with Nmecha before curling a left-footer past Sa from 20 yards!
Updated
88 mins: Despite the second goal this has still been a mildly encouraging night for Olympiakos, who showed good spirit and no little quality to recover from being thrashed for half an hour or so and look set to leave with a creditable scoreline.
9 - Gabriel Jesus has been directly involved in nine goals in his last seven @ChampionsLeague appearances (six goals & three assists). Belter. #UCL pic.twitter.com/xQqHHp1m3c
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 3, 2020
86 mins: Turns out the substitutional action wasn’t over. Soudani comes on for Valbuena, and City bring Felix Nmecha on for De Bruyne.
84 mins: And that really should be that. Porto meanwhile are now 3-0 up against Marseille in tonight’s other Group C game, with Luis Diaz, who scored a cracker in Manchester, scoring another lovely goal.
82 mins: To complete tonight’s substitutional action City bring Cancelo on for Walker and Silva on for Sterling.
81 mins: Jesus collects the ball from De Bruyne outside the area, runs past Cissé, keeps going a little bit too long and then from an unpromising angle hammers the ball high past Sa’s left shoulder, just inside the near post and into the roof of the net!
GOAL! Manchester City 2-0 Olympiakos (Jesus, 81 mins)
Blammo! Pick that one out of the net!
Updated
78 mins: Jesus runs beyond Rafinha onto De Bruyne’s pass over the top, but once in the area just does a couple of stepovers and shoots into a defender.
76 mins: One last change for Olympiakos, who bring Hassan on for El-Arabi.
74 mins: Torres sets up De Bruyne again, but Sa saves the shot. City are having quite a lot of efforts from the edge of the area, but can’t create anything inside it.
73 mins: Nearly a chance! Holebas rampages down the left, past Walker and into the area, but his cross isn’t great and flies across goal and away to safety!
73 mins: Olympiakos bring Masouras on for Camara.
72 mins: The substitutions have brought fresh impetus to City. Torres pulls back to De Bruyne, but it’s a bit behind the Belgian and the shot goes very, very high.
70 mins: So Torres has shifted to the right wing, with Sterling still on the left and Jesus in the middle. And within moments of them taking up those positions Jesus plays a nice backheel in a smart build-up and Torres plays a hard, low cross that Sa snaffles.
68 mins: A double change for City, who take off Mahrez and Foden and bring on Jesus and Rodri.
64 mins: And another shot from the Greeks! It’s Bruma this time, but his 18-yarder goes wide. City just seem to have mislaid their mojo.
62 mins: De Bruyne’s excellent pass finds Sterling, but Sa comes out smartly to smother the cross, and Sterling was anyway offside. Sa has had a fine game today.
61 mins: Another Olympiakos shot! Pepe chips forward, and El-Arabi controls and shoots left-footed from just inside the penalty area. It’s well struck, but Ederson is well placed.
60 mins: City work a shooting chance, after Foden dummies Mahrez’s pull-back and it runs through to Gundogan, but he blazes high.
59 mins: Again City get caught in their own defensive third, and Camara’s cross is only just out of El-Arabi’s reach!
57 mins: That was the visitors’ first shot of any description. They are yet to create a shooting opportunity for themselves.
54 mins: Olympiakos have a shot! And they should have scored! City try to pass out of defence as the visitors press high but Foden mishits a pass back to Stones and gifts the ball to Valbuena, who shanks his shot wide!
51 mins: Olympiakos’s pre-half-timely improvement has continued after the interval. They’ve even started completing passes inside the City half.
48 mins: It’s a good corner, and Camara looks set to run onto it, but he misjudges his header and the ball deflects back out of the penalty area.
47 mins: Olympiakos have won a corner! I repeat, they have attacked and they have won a corner. This is their best moment of the game, by far.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! They’re off, again! Some substitutional news: Bruma and Pêpê are on for Olympiakos, with Randjelovic and Bouchalakis coming on.
Updated
It only takes a second to score a goal, etc and so forth, and City must still dot the i’s and cross the t’s to wrap up this victory, but clearly they are the better side. In other Group C news, Porto lead Marseille 2-0 at the break. And here’s that Barella backheel:
Nicolò Barella with an outrageous backheel assist to lay on Lautaro Martínez for Inter.
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 3, 2020
Stop that 🤯 pic.twitter.com/tGjAxmU2aM
Half time: Manchester City 1-0 Olympiakos
45+2 mins: That’s all, for now. City were phenomenal for 25 minutes, but have relaxed a bit and the game is not yet won.
45+1 mins: There’ll be just the one minute of stoppage time.
42 mins: More good work from Sa, this time to cut out Walker’s cross.
40 mins: Foden crosses from the right now, but his cross flies past Torres at the near post and doesn’t reach Sterling at the far, because Sa catches it.
39 mins: There has been a definite shift in momentum here, so much so that City are now down to just 66% of possession.
36 mins: Nearly a chance for Olympiakos! M’Vila plays the ball into the path of El-Arabi, running beyond Ake into the City penalty area. He goes down and wants a penalty, but when the whistle goes it’s for an offside.
35 mins: If you get a minute, you should check out the Nico Barella backheel assist for the goal Martinez has just scored for Inter at Real Madrid. Phwoar.
33 mins: City have the ball in the net again, but Sterling is offside as Mahrez plays the ball into the box.
32 mins: Sa hits another long pass down the right flank and straight out of play. This is not a good habit.
28 mins: A promising moment for City, as Mahrez carries the ball towards the penalty area with runners right, left and centre. He perhaps keeps it a bit too long, and then passes to Sterling who takes a bit long to make his mind up about whether he should pass again or shoot, and in the end they’re forced to turn back.
27 mins: Sterling cuts in from the left and hits a low shot straight at Sa.
26 mins: Olympiakos have actually put a few passes together in the last couple of minutes. They haven’t done a lot with it, and eventually Sa hammers a long pass over Rafinha and out of play, but it’s a start.
23 mins: Sterling plays in Foden, whose low cross is blocked. This is an almost exact replica of the fourth-minute move detailed below, and like then the cross is blocked, but both times it was an excellent run and pass, and sooner or later the combination will be rewarded.
19 mins: City break, Sterling goes past Rúben Semedo with indecent ease, but Rafinha gets back to block his cross. Then De Bruyne has a shot from distance which is saved, then Foden has a shot from 20 yards which is blocked. Three times in the space of a single minute Olympiakos gave City both possession and a decent attacking opportunity.
18 mins: Olympiakos do an attack! Valbuena crosses from the left, and though for a moment it looks dangerous Ederson collects.
16 mins: Mahrez goes down in the area, alleging a foul from Mathieu Valbuena, but it was entirely confected and the referee isn’t buying it.
16 mins: According to BT Sport’s latest statistics, City have played 120 passes to their opponents’ 29, a surprisingly small difference really.
14 mins: City have had 77% of possession, and could hardly have been more dominant.
GOAL! Man City 1-0 Olymmpiakos (Torres, 13 mins)
Another one for the stand-in striker! Torres plays a lovely one-two with De Bruyne, sprints clear of Holebas and tucks the ball through Sa’s legs!
Updated
12 mins: Close again! Rúben Semedo launches into a ludicrous and near-suicidal run out of defence despite a thicket of pressing City players, loses the ball, and Sa races out to save with his foot after De Bruyne is played in!
10 mins: A super pass over the defence from Gundogan to Sterling, but his attempt to cushion a pass back to Foden finds a defender.
9 mins: A bit of a defensive mess as Rúben Semedo leaves the ball for his goalkeeper, who isn’t keen to come and get it and when he finally does runs into Rafinha. The ball spills to Sterling, but pretty much on the byline so he can’t shoot instantly, and Sa flops on it.
8 mins: The follow-up corner also goes to Torres, but this time the header goes wide without any deflection. City are all over Olympiakos here.
7 mins: Close! The corner is backheel-volleyed by Torres, ahead of the near post, and could have snuck in had El-Arabi not got a foot in the way.
Updated
6 mins: Now Walker crosses from the right, fizzed with such venom that Torres’s attempt to control turns into a pass to Mahrez, whose effort is blocked.
4 mins: Another Foden cross, a low one this time, is cleared at the near post by Pape Abou Cissé, the 6ft 6in centre-back.
2 mins: Foden crosses from the left, the ball spinning only just over the bar on its way straight out of play.
Updated
1 min: Peeeeeeeep! City get the game started. The players, as is now familiar, take the knee before kick-off, but the referee very emphatically does not.
Right then. Players out, anthems played, football incoming.
Updated
The players gather in the tunnel, just a few minutes from kick-off now.
Booking of the day:
Luis Suárez got booked for looking over the referee's shoulder at the monitor during a VAR decision.
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 3, 2020
The most Luis Suárez thing ever 😂 pic.twitter.com/CJGEwJ2v7V
Pep Guardiola has a pre-match chat, and as usual doesn’t give much away about the thinking behind his team changes, beyond common-or-garden rotation:
We need everyone. There is a lot of games, we need everyone. We played just three days ago, so not much time for recovery. There are a lot of games, and we decided this is the best XI to start today. Of course we know how important the result today is, but there are a lot of games still to play. We need to keep patient, keep rhythm, and find the right moment to win the game.
“There are two Old Traffords,” notes Jiri, “neither of them in Manchester.” Bah, facts, always getting in the way.
There are a couple of unfamiliar names on the City bench, among them James Trafford, and 18-year-old goalkeeper, who was also on the bench for the 1-0 win over Sheffield United. There is now a young Trafford as well as an Old Trafford in Manchester.
So Jesus returns, but only to the bench. Ferran Torres will continue as a stand-in forward until such time as the Brazilian comes off the bench.
The teams!
Team sheets are in, and the key names this evening are these:
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Foden, Mahrez, Torres, Sterling. Subs: Dias, Gabriel Jesus, Steffen, Laporte, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Garcia, Nmecha, Bernabe, Trafford.
Olympiakos: Jose Sa, Rafinha, Semedo, Cisse, Holebas, M’Vila, Bouchalakis, Camara, Randjelovic, El Arabi, Valbuena. Subs: Ruben Vinagre, Bruma, Drager, Soudani, Kouka, Pepe, Androutsos, Vrousai, Masouras, Papadopoulos, Karargyris, Tzolakis.
Referee: Carlos Del Cerro (Spain).
⚠️ #UCL TEAM NEWS! ⚠️
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 3, 2020
XI | Ederson, Walker, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Mahrez, De Bruyne (C), Torres, Foden, Sterling.
SUBS | Steffen, Trafford, Dias, Jesus, Laporte, Rodrigo, Bernardo, Cancelo, Garcia, Nmecha, Bernabe.
🔷 #ManCity | https://t.co/axa0klD5re pic.twitter.com/QknPgKjM0E
Hello world!
Manchester City and their 100% Champions League record head into the first game of a double-header against Olympiakos buoyed by the potential return (or potentially buoyed by the return, if you prefer) of Gabriel Jesus. We could soon, potentially even this evening, once again see Manchester City play with a specialist forward. There will be a late fitness test, with Ferran Torres on standby to continue in his confused 9 role. “He is better and did one session with the team, a regeneration one,” said Guardiola of Jesus. “We are happy he is back. But we are also happy with Ferran playing there, too.”
So that’s exciting. Victory would take City to nine points, not exactly guaranteed qualification for the knockout stages, but not far from it - Pep Guardiola calls this “an incredible opportunity to make a huge step to qualify for the next round”, and he’s not wrong.
The signs are good. Olympiakos have played in England 17 times, and lost 14 of those games. Their two wins have both come at Arsenal, one in 2015 and the other in February this year, and they also squeaked a draw at Burnley in 2018. They concede 2.9 goals in their average England-based Champions League game. They last reached the Champions League knockouts in 2014. But they travel in hope, because of that win over Arsenal. “Once they did not dare to dream of a good result on English soil,” writes the Greek sports website Fos. “They lost their matches the moment they set foot on the stairs to the plane. Before they even took off, the team from Piraeus lose the match. But all that has changed, and it changed with that 3-2 win over Arsenal.”
Tonight, City will attempt to change it back again. Welcome!
