Man City keep their Champions League campaign alive, Nwaneri scores Arsenal winner

MANCHESTER CITY KEPT their Champions League campaign alive on Wednesday as they overturned a half-time deficit against Club Brugge to snatch a place in the play-off round.

The 2023 winners had been in danger of missing out on the knockout stages for the first time since 2012-13 after falling behind to a Raphael Onyedika strike in their must-win clash at the Etihad Stadium.

They hit back after the break through Mateo Kovavic before an own goal from Joel Ordonez and a further strike from impressive substitute Savinho carried them to a 3-1 win.

That prompted sighs of relief from all round the ground as City lifted themselves to 22nd position in the league phase.

It was not convincing but, amid a disappointing campaign, the final result was all that mattered. Their Belgian opponents at least had the consolation of knowing they would also go through.

City’s night had started badly when a merchandise kiosk outside the stadium caught fire and it took a stirring second-half revival to ensure their European hopes also did not go up in smoke.

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Club Brugge went ahead on stroke of half-time. Ferran Jutgla skilfully beat Matheus Nunes on the left and whipped a low ball across the edge of the box. The ball bobbled off Akanji and bounced invitingly for Onyedika to sweep home.

John Stones, making his first start for over a month, should have equalised when he planted a header wide from a De Bruyne cross.

With the momentum having clearly shifted, Kovacic was allowed to charge through the defence to bury a shot into the bottom corner from distance.

City snatched the lead just after the hour as Gvardiol found space inside the box and his pass was diverted into his own net by Ordonez.

City made the better chances with Kovacic shooting over, Erling Haaland thwarted by Simon Mignolet, and Savinho having an attempt cleared off the line.

The Brazilian was not to be denied for long, however, as he brought down a crossfield pass from Stones in the area and calmly slipped the ball under former Liverpool keeper Mignolet.

It proved the final significant act as it became clear both sides would progress.

Ethan Nwaneri scored on his full Champions League debut as Arsenal secured direct passage to the last 16 with a 2-1 win at Girona.

The 17-year-old winger became the second-youngest English goalscorer in the competition after Jude Bellingham when he cracked in what turned out to be the winner late in the first half, a superb curling effort into the corner as Arsenal recovered from going a goal down.

Stand-in goalkeeper Neto, in for the injured David Raya, had a debut to forget, with the Brazilian on loan from Bournemouth badly at fault for allowing former Tottenham forward Arnaut Danjuma to give the home side the lead after 28 minutes.

Girona had already been eliminated on their maiden Champions League campaign and squandered their lead soon after taking it, Thomas Partey fouled inside the box allowing Jorginho to level from the spot for Arsenal.

That set things up three minutes before half-time for Nwaneri to swing his left boot and score his sixth Arsenal goal, though the margin of victory could have been bigger had Raheem Sterling not missed a stoppage-time penalty.