Bellingham strikes late as City hand advantage to Real

Manchester City are fighting for Champions League survival and a place in the last 16 after Jude Bellingham’s injury-time winner settled a tense play-off first leg in Real Madrid’s favour. Pep Guardiola’s side rediscovered more of their true form early on at Etihad Stadium as Jack Grealish and Josko Gvardiol combined to set up Erling Haaland for a confident finish after 19 minutes. An action packed second half saw the game ebb and flow with Bellingham popping up to secure a winner for Los Blancos.

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Manchester City survive Brugge scare to progress

Manchester City survived a huge scare as they scraped into the Champions League play-offs with victory over Club Brugge at Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola’s men knew only victory would suffice to avoid the abject embarrassment of slipping out of the top 24 places in the tournament’s new format. They were left facing that grim prospect after Raphael Onyedika gave Club Brugge a shock lead but a second half turnaround was enough to see them progress.

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Guardiola says City need ‘something special’ to survive in Champions League

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has described his side’s Champions League situation as “not a problem” but “an opportunity” but will need something special tomorrow. The 2022-23 champions are 25th in the 36-team league, two points out of the positions that qualify for the knockout phase play-offs. They must beat Belgians Club Brugge at Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to avoid being eliminated at the group stage.

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Haaland magic helps Man City recover to down Chelsea

Erling Haaland and Phil Foden spared the blushes of new team-mate Abdukodir Khusanov as Manchester City came from behind to beat Chelsea 3-1. Khusanov, the £33.6million Uzbekistan defender signed from Lens this week, made a nightmare start in the Premier League with an error that led to a Chelsea goal and a booking inside the opening four minutes.

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Manchester City return to winning ways at Leicester

Pep Guardiola celebrated 500 games in charge of Manchester City with a nervy win over Leicester. Savinho and Erling Haaland gave the floundering defending champions just a second win in their last 10 Premier League games. It was still not enough to lift them back into the top four, instead leaving them fifth and 11 points behind leaders Liverpool before the Reds’ trip to West Ham later on Sunday.

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