Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola made it plain that James McAtee still has plenty to learn before he can start to claim a place in his brilliant Blues side. The 19-year-old Salfordian made his Champions League debut as a half-time substitute in the goalless draw with Sporting Lisbon at the Etihad Stadium.
McAtee has greatly impressed Guardiola and his coaching staff and has clearly grown out of the under-23 level, where he has scored 17 goals and claimed four assists in 18 games this season. That has seen him elevated to the squad on a full-time basis but he has just 72 minutes of first-team action under his belt as Guardiola feeds him into the senior team slowly.
McAtee produced one of the moments of the match with the last kick, as he scooped a pass over the defence to send Rajeem Sterling through, only for the England man to hit the side netting with his shot.
ALSO READ: Manchester City player ratings vs Sporting
"Macca is quite calm and a guy who is in a good direction," said Guardiola. "But, yeah he got minutes in the second half and he has played previous games. He knows the rhythm. He has the quality but has to understand the position a bit better."
He went on to make the point that McAtee's pressing was not quite right at certain points of the game - a crucial part of what City do. Guardiola was delighted with Egan-Riley, who is not a regular member of his first-team squad but stepped up with Kyle Walker suspended and Joao Cancelo ill.
He described the 19-year-old Mancunian defender as a seven out of ten performance, adding: "CJ doesn’t make mistakes which is so important as a defender. McAtee played well. We should have played the second half like we did in the last four minutes. We didn’t do it, but it’s not easy after 5-0."
Sign up to our City newsletter so you never miss an update from the Etihad Stadium this season.
Catch up on all the latest Blues headlines in our Man City section
