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UEFA Champions League

Manchester City lift their first silverware of the campaign
23/08/17
12:31
sokapro-Manchester City lift their first silverware of the campaign

The English title holders were made to sweat for their maiden super cup title as Sevilla, the current Europa League holders held them to a 1-1 stalemate forcing the fixture to be decided on penalties.

Pep Guardiola survived a sloppy start to triumph on spot-kicks against Sevilla to lift the UEFA Super Cup. Having lost the Community Shield title to Arsenal on penalties earlier before the beginning of this season's campaign, Manchester City made sure that this time they did not suffer the same fate against UEFA Europa League holders Sevilla. Youssef En-Nesyri netted for the Spanish powerhouse to put them ahead and City fought their way to net an equalizer through Cole Palmer’s looping header as their first super cup appearance ended 1-1 after 90 minutes forcing the action into a shoot-out. 

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The first nine penalties were all converted before Nemanja Gudelj's efforts went off the crossbar meaning the current UEFA Champions League holders triumphed 5-4 on penalties in Piraeus. Guardiola then became the first manager to win the super cup with three different teams having won it before with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The Spaniard also equaled Carlo Ancelotti’s record of four competition victories as a coach. Manchester City now become the sixth English side to lift the trophy but were made to sweat by Jose Luis Mendilibar’s Sevilla, who threatened to take the title through En-Nesyri’s powerful first-half header. The La Liga giants could easily have grabbed a second goal courtesy of their strong second-half start, only for man of the match Palmer to equalize with a header. The La Liga outfit then survived a late City onslaught but could not avoid a sixth straight Super Cup defeat as the match went into penalties at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.

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Josko Gvardiol made his full debut in Greece, where Kevin De Bruyne was missing in action due to the hamstring injury he sustained earlier in the season that might force him to face surgery that will keep him four months out. Kyle Walker wore the captain's armband in the absence of De Bruyne but City fans sang their injured star’s name in the opening minutes of the game. Football fans across the globe now await the start of the UEFA Champions League as the football season takes shape. 

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(Image: Livescore)