Marseille 0-3 Manchester City: visitors facilitate victory

Manchester City continued their perfect start to the Champions League group stage with a comfortable victory in Marseille.

Oleksandr Zinchenko hit the outside of a post with a clear shot from the edge of the area as City pushed for a second before the break.

Marseille rarely bothered Ederson in City’s goal. Nemanja Radonjic’s speculative effort from 30 yards was easily saved, while Florian Thauvin hit the outside of a post after the break, though Ederson had him covered.

As the hosts grew weary, City went one step further and closed out the victory in style when Ilkay Gundogan stabbed from Raheem Sterling’s downfall before Sterling came home with another assist from De Bruyne.

The victory means that City leads Group C with six points from two games and is on track to qualify for the knockout phase.

Their next Champions League game is at home to Olympiakos on Tuesday, November 3.

No strikers? No problem

City have been unlucky with injuries to their forwards this season, with Sergio Agüero this week joining Gabriel Jesús on the bench.

City have not had the two first-choice forwards available for any of their nine games in all competitions, and only four times have they had a fit forward.

He prompted manager Pep Guardiola to experiment against Marseille with winger Torres handed over a central attacking role in his first Champions League start for the club, with Phil Foden and Sterling on both sides.

The experiment paid off, the trio provided an energy in attack that Marseille’s five-man defense had a hard time dealing with, while De Bruyne was once again pulling the strings just behind the three forwards.

After Torres’ goal, City took a while to put the game on the bed, and the two late goals gave it the shine its performance deserved.

While the loss of City’s two main forwards is a blow, this game not only highlighted that they can still score goals in their absence, it also underscored the importance of De Bruyne.

City became more effective when they came off the bench in a 1-1 draw against West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday, and it was again the team’s heartbeat as this game ended with two assists.

Whats Next?

City will travel to Sheffield United in the Premier League on Saturday (12:30 GMT).