Match ends, Olympiakos 0, Manchester City 1.
OlympiakosOlympiakos0Man CityManchester City1
Manchester City secured progress to the Champions League knockout stages with two games to spare after a comfortable victory over Olympiakos in Piraeus.
Pep Guardiola's side required one point to reach the last-16, but victory on Wednesday ensures they remain firm favourites to finish top of Group C.
City dominated throughout against the Greek champions but 20-year-old England international Phil Foden scored the only goal after 36 minutes when he slotted in from Raheem Sterling's delightful back-pass.
Olympiakos failed to register a shot, or indeed even a touch in City's box, until the 88th-minute, but Ilkay Gundogan blazed wide and Bernardo Silva was denied at close range as City failed to add to their tally, despite 22 attempts at goal.
- Reaction to Olympiakos v Man City followed by coverage of Liverpool v Atalanta
- What can be decided in the Champions League this week?
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne was left out of the squad as City began a spell of 11 games before the end of 2020, with Burnley next up on Saturday as they look to make up ground in the Premier League.
There was a moment of silence prior to kick-off, following news of the death of football legend Diego Maradona at the age of 60.
Foden the difference in one-sided game
City could not have wished for an easier start to their busy end-of-year schedule, but Sterling's assist for Foden was a rare moment of quality when it mattered in attack.
Foden's subsequent well-taken finish was his seventh goal involvement in his past 10 appearances in Europe's elite competition - and he has now been involved in 25 goals in 40 starts for City in all competitions.
Indeed, his 10 goals in all competitions for City in 2020 is - excluding penalties - the most by any Premier League midfielder this calendar year.
Olympiakos offered almost nothing in attack themselves with their two shots arrived in the closing minutes as City's profligacy offered their opponents hope of an unlikely point.
Four wins from four group matches, and their 10 goals - as many as they have managed in eight Premier League games - undoubtedly represents a satisfying European campaign to date - one which manager Guardiola said he is "fully optimistic" about.
But, three months on from their painful shock quarter-final defeat by Lyon in last season's competition, Guardiola can only expect similar wastefulness to be punished deeper into the competition.
More to follow.
How to play
Rate players out of 10 throughout or after the game. The rater will close 30 minutes after the final whistle.
Rating range key = Give it up = Pure perfection
Olympiakos
Starting XI
Avg
- Squad number1Player nameJosé SáAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number21Player nameDrägerAverage rating
5.00
- Squad number24Player nameBaAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number3Player nameRúben SemedoAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number66Player nameCisséAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number13Player nameRafinhaAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number19Player nameMasourasAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number6Player nameM'VilaAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number10Player namePepeAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number4Player nameMady CamaraAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number7Player nameFortounisAverage rating
6.00
Substitutes
Avg
- Squad number2Player nameSoudaniAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number5Player nameBouchalakisAverage rating
6.00
- Squad number17Player nameVrousaiAverage rating
6.00
Manchester City
Starting XI
Avg
Squad number31Player nameEdersonAverage rating1.00
Squad number27Player nameJoão CanceloAverage rating1.00
Squad number5Player nameStonesAverage rating1.00
- Squad number3Player nameRúben DiasAverage rating
6.00
Squad number22Player nameMendyAverage rating6.00
- Squad number16Player nameRodriAverage rating
6.00
Squad number8Player nameGündoganAverage rating6.00
Squad number7Player nameSterlingAverage rating1.00
Squad number20Player nameBernardo SilvaAverage rating1.00
Squad number47Player nameFodenAverage rating1.00
Squad number9Player nameGabriel JesusAverage rating6.00
Substitutes
Avg
Squad number10Player nameAgüeroAverage rating6.00
Squad number11Player nameZinchenkoAverage rating6.00
Squad number25Player nameFernandinhoAverage rating6.00
Squad number26Player nameMahrezAverage rating6.00
- Squad number69Player nameDoyleAverage rating
6.00
Line-ups
Olympiakos
- 1Malheiro de Sá
- 21DrägerSubstituted forVrousaiat 66'minutes
- 24Ba
- 3Borges Semedo
- 66Cissé
- 13Ferreira de SouzaBooked at 39mins
- 19MasourasSubstituted forSoudaniat 78'minutes
- 6M'Vila
- 10Figueiredo RodriguesSubstituted forBouchalakisat 71'minutes
- 4Camara
- 7Fortounis
Substitutes
- 2Soudani
- 5Bouchalakis
- 12Vinagre
- 14Androutsos
- 17Vrousai
- 34Papadopoulos
- 44Karargyris
- 53Nikolis
- 54Kitsos
- 56Tsavos
- 88Tzolakis
- 90Sourlis
Man City
- 31Ederson
- 27Cancelo
- 5Stones
- 3Rúben DiasBooked at 54mins
- 22MendySubstituted forZinchenkoat 78'minutes
- 16RodriSubstituted forFernandinhoat 76'minutes
- 8GündoganBooked at 86minsSubstituted forDoyleat 86'minutes
- 7SterlingBooked at 39minsSubstituted forMahrezat 76'minutes
- 20Bernardo Silva
- 47Foden
- 9Gabriel JesusSubstituted forAgüeroat 78'minutes
Substitutes
- 10Agüero
- 11Zinchenko
- 13Steffen
- 14Laporte
- 21Torres
- 25Fernandinho
- 26Mahrez
- 33Carson
- 50García
- 61Nmecha
- 69Doyle
- 80Palmer
- Referee:
- Davide Massa
Match Stats
Home TeamOlympiakosAway TeamMan City
- Possession
- Home41%
- Away59%
- Shots
- Home2
- Away22
- Shots on Target
- Home0
- Away11
- Corners
- Home0
- Away4
- Fouls
- Home9
- Away8
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Olympiakos 0, Manchester City 1.
Post update
Rúben Dias (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Pape Abou Cissé (Olympiakos).
Post update
Foul by Sergio Agüero (Manchester City).
Post update
Ousseynou Ba (Olympiakos) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Attempt missed. Pape Abou Cissé (Olympiakos) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses the top left corner. Assisted by Mady Camara with a cross.
Post update
Hand ball by Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City).
Post update
Attempt missed. Konstantinos Fortounis (Olympiakos) right footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the right.
Post update
Fernandinho (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Rúben Semedo (Olympiakos).
Substitution
Substitution, Manchester City. Tommy Doyle replaces Ilkay Gündogan.
Booking
Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Post update
Foul by Ilkay Gündogan (Manchester City).
Post update
Konstantinos Fortounis (Olympiakos) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Post update
Foul by Fernandinho (Manchester City).
Post update
Hillal Soudani (Olympiakos) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Post update
Offside, Olympiakos. Pape Abou Cissé tries a through ball, but Hillal Soudani is caught offside.
Post update
Offside, Olympiakos. Pape Abou Cissé tries a through ball, but Hillal Soudani is caught offside.
Post update
Foul by João Cancelo (Manchester City).
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Comments
Join the conversation
City did what they had to do.
Nothing more, nothing less.
But they definitely need to sign a striker in January - Jesus doesn’t cut it, and unfortunately Aguero is injury prone at the moment.
And Mahrez has lost that edge - Foden should be starting ahead of him in my opinion.
Just move on - as far as I’m concerned Bayern Munich are clear favourites.
Man City will do well, but they don’t have the factor that Bayern have.
I thought Olympiakos are like Burnley but now i am extremely apologitic for being hugely disrespectful to the clarets.
Anyways City did what was needed and the rest was just like training ground.
Unfortunately we are in the minority, with most LFC “fans” giving us genuine fans a bad name. I honestly don’t think you get this as much with other clubs fans. Very sad.