Eight changes, a 17-year-old up front and Haaland on the bench. Foden scored three and set up Cherki, Lewis made two, and City had 54 touches in AEK's box to 10.
The numbers
| Manchester City | AEK Athens | |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 64% | 36% |
| Shots | 17 | 11 |
| On target | 7 | 3 |
| xG | 2.74 | 1.17 |
| Touches in opp. box | 54 | 10 |
| Corners | 8 | 3 |
| Hit the woodwork | 2 | 0 |
Result the chances deserved: Manchester City 70% / 16% / AEK Athens 14% (Poisson).
Starting line-ups
Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma, Lewis, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, Anderson, Fernández, Foden, Cherki, Allan, Samba.
AEK Athens (4-4-2): Brignoli, Rota, Moukoudi, Relvas, Pilios, Majer, Arriaga, Marin, João Mário, Varga, Jović.
AEK subs: Koïta (46', Marin), Zini (46', Varga), Zubkov (63', João Mário), Vitális and Gaćinović (83', for Arriaga and Jović; FotMob and Sofascore pair them the other way round). Unused: Balamotis, Kairinen, Mantalos, Vida, Lykogiannis. AEK coach: Marko Nikolić. FotMob lists AEK's shape as a 4-1-3-2 with Arriaga behind Majer, Marin and João Mário; we show it as a 4-4-2. Yellow card: Gvardiol (57' FotMob, 59' Sofascore). Crowd: 40,042 (Man City). xG: FotMob 2.74–1.17.
Key moments, move by move
- Samba is brought down on the edge of AEK's box.
- Fernández's dipping free-kick clips the underside of the bar.
- Anderson is first to the rebound, holds off Rota and scores.
- Foden and Lewis combine down the flank.
- Lewis gets past his man and plays it back across.
- Foden finishes from close range past Brignoli.
- AEK break quickly from their own half after the restart.
- Zini, on at half-time, finds the left-back Pilios arriving with time and space.
- Pilios drives a low shot across Donnarumma and inside the far post: AEK's first shot on target.
- Foden plays Cherki into space just inside the box.
- Cherki drags the ball back to lose his marker.
- He finishes into the bottom corner, five minutes after AEK's goal.
- Lewis tees up Foden at the end of a passing move.
- Foden guides it from just inside the box into the top corner. His favourite of the three, he said.
- Substitute McAidoo crosses into the six-yard box.
- Foden taps in for his hat-trick, his fourth for City and his first since April 2024.
Eight changes, the same 4-2-3-1: Lewis and Foden down one side, AEK kept outside City's box
- A much-changed side. Maresca made eight changes from the Ipswich win (Man City). Floyd Samba, 17, led the line with Haaland on the bench, and Allan and Cherki played behind him. City still had 64% of the ball and 54 touches in AEK's box to 10 (FotMob). Maresca: "It is the best feeling for any manager when you make many changes but the performance is still good" (Sky Sports).
- Lewis and Foden. Lewis set up two of Foden's three goals, and Foden made Cherki's (FotMob). Foden started wide and finished as a false nine (PA via Yahoo). FotMob rated him 9.8 and UEFA named him Player of the Match.
- AEK came to play, not to sit. Nikolić: "We didn't want to sit back and try to survive" (Sky Sports). His 4-1-3-2 (FotMob) kept the ball for 36% of the game, but AEK had no shot on target until Pilios scored at 52' (Sky Sports). Their goal came from a quick break after City lost the ball (Man City).
- More goals than chances. City scored five from 2.74 xG; AEK one from 1.17 (FotMob). City also hit the woodwork twice, through Fernández's free-kick and Allan's shot (Man City), so the score flattered the finishing more than the chances.
Tactical scenes
AEK had the ball in City's half often enough to shoot, but rarely got into the box. Marin's early shot from outside the box was blocked, Arriaga shot over from long range, and in the second half Zubkov and Gaćinović both shot wide from distance. City's block let them shoot from 25 metres and closed the box behind.
Evidence: AEK had 11 shots but only 10 touches in City's box all game (FotMob), and only 3 of the 11 were on target (Man City). Their first shot on target came at 52', and it was the goal (Sky Sports). FotMob match page · Man City match centre (full-time stats) · Sky Sports report · VAVEL live updates (minutes of the long shots)
Recreate it in FM26
Manchester City · City's rotated 4-2-3-1 with a right-side one-two · 4-2-3-1Show cardHide card
City's rotated 4-2-3-1 with a right-side one-two
| Pos | Player | In Possession | Out of Possession |
|---|---|---|---|
| GK | Donnarumma | Goalkeeper | Sweeper Keeper |
| RB | Lewis | Full-Back | Full-Back |
| RCB | Khusanov | Centre-Back | Covering Centre-Back |
| LCB | Dias | Ball-Playing Centre-Back | Centre-Back |
| LB | Gvardiol | Full-Back | Full-Back |
| RDM | Anderson | Box-to-Box Midfielder | Defensive Midfielder |
| LDM | Fernández | Deep-Lying Playmaker | Screening Defensive Midfielder |
| RW | Foden | Inside Forward | Tracking Winger |
| AM | Cherki | Advanced Playmaker | Attacking Midfielder |
| LW | Allan | Winger | Winger |
| ST | Samba | Centre Forward | Centre Forward |
Team instructions
In Possession
- Passing DirectnessShorter
- PatienceWork Ball Into Box
- Progress ThroughRight
Out of Possession
- Line of EngagementHigh Press
- Defensive LineHigher
- Defensive TransitionCounter-Press
The idea: A 4-2-3-1 that keeps the ball and attacks through one strong side: a Full-Back who plays one-twos with an Inside Forward, and an Advanced Playmaker between the lines. You need a holding midfielder who stops the break when the ball is lost.
What FM26 can't copy: FM26 can't reproduce the eight changes, or a 17-year-old's first Champions League start.
Our reading of this match in FM26 terms, not an exported tactic file. Role names as in FM26.
What if? Replay it with a different plan
Our best alternative plan: Bouaddi on at 46' (for Fernández). Keep the shape and the high press, which held AEK to 1.17 xG, but add Bouaddi at half-time to screen the quick break. The result does not change; AEK's best route gets smaller. It moves Manchester City's win chance from 70% to 73% (xG 2.74–1.17 becomes 2.69–1.02). Try your own changes to formation, pressing, approach and substitutions.
The game-changer Manchester City needed
Erling Haaland
City made 54 touches in AEK's box and hit the woodwork twice while a 17-year-old led the line. Haaland on the end of those balls would have turned a 2–0 half-time lead into a finished game before AEK's break.
Moisés Caicedo
AEK's goal came from a quick break after City lost the ball high up. Caicedo wins the ball back in that zone and covers ground sideways, so the break is stopped before it reaches City's back four.
What the analysts said
“It is the best feeling for any manager when you make many changes but the performance is still good.”Enzo Maresca (via Sky Sports)
“I said since day one I consider him one of the best English players.”Enzo Maresca (Man City)
“We showed determination again; it wasn't pretty at times, giving sloppy passes away, but I thought we stuck at the game plan, we kept going, and in the end we broke them down.”Phil Foden (TNT Sports, via Sky Sports)
“Phil is an unbelievable player. When I first came into the first team, I was closest with him.”Rico Lewis (via Yahoo Sports)
“We didn't want to sit back and try to survive, like I said before the game.”Marko Nikolić (via Sky Sports)
“But of course the quality in the finishing phase from City was brutal.”Marko Nikolić (via Sky Sports)
City changed eight players and the ideas still worked, and Foden looks like Foden again.
What's happening. City beat AEK Athens 5–1 six days after losing to PSG, with eight changes and Haaland on the bench. Foden scored three and set up a fourth. City have six points from three games in the league phase. The rotation matters as much as the score: Villa away comes four days later.
How it works. The shape stays the same whoever plays: a back four, two midfielders, a No.10 and two wide players who come inside. The full-back on the ball side joins in, and here Lewis kept finding Foden near the box. The cost is the same as in every game this season: when City lose the ball high up, a quick break can go through. AEK's goal came that way, from their first shot on target.
What the shots say. City's chances were worth less than three goals by FotMob's xG, and they scored five. One reading: the finishing was hot, and AEK, who also shot often from distance, were better than the score says. The other: City kept AEK to ten touches in their box, so the chances City gave up were poor ones, and the woodwork twice shows the gap was not all luck.