Jack Grealish had a goal and an assist as Manchester City overcame a Christopher Nkunku hat trick in a 6-3 win over RB Leipzig to kickoff its 2021-22 UEFA Champions League group stage on run on Wednesday in Manchester.
Riyad Mahrez, Nathan Ake, Joao Cancelo, and Gabriel Jesus joined a Nordi Mukiele goal in completing City’s tremendous attacking day. Ederson, however, did not make a save in allowing Nkunku’s hat trick.
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Leipzig finished with 10 men after ex-City man Angelino got his second yellow with 79 minutes gone, but it was already 5-3 against the Bundesliga side.
Jesse Marsch’s men are still looking for answers after selling two big center backs over the summer, and have allowed 10 goals in its last two matches (to Bayern Munich and Man City, but 10 is 10).
Man City vs RB Leipzig final score, stats, results
Final score: Man City 6, RB Leipzig 3
Goals scored: City (Ake 16', Mukiele o.g. 28', Mahrez 45'+2, Grealish 56', Cancelo 75', Gabriel Jesus 85'); Leipzig (Nkunku 42', 51', 73').
Shots: Man City 17, RB Leipzig 9
Shots on target: Man City 8, Leipzig 3
Possession: 50-50
JOAO CANCELO HIT THAT. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/V3zoCm763L
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 15, 2021
Three things we learned from Man City vs RB Leipzig
1. Grealish shows glimpse of peak City: Man City’s very expensive left wing was both electric and economical in his 81 minutes, scoring and grabbing an assist while drawing three fouls and completing 21-of-25 passes. This was some sort of “Leroy Sane plus magic dust” stuff that forced Leipzig to fear every bit of what the ex-Villan could bring to the game.
2. Marsch let down by his defense (and Adams): At some point with RB Leipzig (and Salzburg and RBNY), there has to be a hiccup where the constant selling of their best players leads to replenishments that can’t hang at this level. Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate were sold this summer and Willi Orban and Lukas Klostermann were decidedly not on the level of their predecessors on Wednesday (fullbacks Nordi Mukiele and Angelino were decidedly one-dimensional as well). USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams also found himself in a bad spot, 1v1 with Jack Grealish, and showed the ex-Villa man inside for a smash at goal.
3. And yet, meh: We love watching City play but the fact remains that they are a team far superior to most in the world who has tripped at the final (or semifinal or quarterfinal) step so many times that dominant performances like this tend to finish their journeys through our imaginations at the “But the wheels are going to come off at some point, yeah?” Beautiful football.
Man of the Match: Jack Grealish
SUPER JACK. 💥 pic.twitter.com/H7sMs3i3ls
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 15, 2021
Man City vs RB Leipzig recap
City threatened to cruise to victory on the power of two goals in the first half-hour, Nathan Ake heading a Jack Grealish corner kick home before Nordi Mukiele conceded a Leipzig own goal.
Nkunku made the most of his second big chance of the day, this one onside when he nodded Mukiele’s headed pass of an Emil Forsberg cross past Ederson.
VAR gave City a chance to restore its two-goal cushion off a close-range handball, and Riyad Mahrez did the trick to make it 3-1.
Nkunku got another when a Dani Olmo foray through the heart of the City defense finished with a clever, technical cross that the forward nodded past Ederson.
Grealish gave City a two-goal lead for the third time when he drove at Tyler Adams and cut past the USMNT man with ease to curl a wonder of a strike inside the far post.
Nathan Ake scores his first City goal in a year 💙 pic.twitter.com/NJwkHrsTfQ
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) September 15, 2021
