Manchester City 1 Feyenoord 0: Raheem Sterling spares Pep Guardiola and his side’s blushes as his late strike seals win
JUST when it looked like Manchester City's bandwagon was stalling, step forward Raheem Sterling.
Gio van Bronkhorst's determined Feyenoord looked certain to end Pep Guardiola's remarkable winning streak with a dogged display.
But with the clock ticking down on a frustrating night, the England man swapped passes with Ilkay Gundogan before clipping over Brad Jones with just two minutes remaining.
What a season the former Liverpool man is having. What a season City are having.
Even on lacklustre nights like this, they still come out on top. And that's exactly what they've done in their Champions League group too.
Sterling's 11th goal of the season - along with Napoli's win over Shakhtar Donetsk - means their trip to Ukraine in two weeks is a dead rubber.
And how important could that be with the Manchester derby at Old Trafford four days later?
It turned into a good night all round for City who were also able to hand a debut to their young star Phil Foden 15 minutes from time.
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City's four straight wins meant they were already through to the last 16 before this game - yet they still had work to do to secure top spot.
Guardiola had hinted at making 11 changes for this one - with the home crowd hopeful of seeing young starlets Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz.
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Yet both were named on the bench with Pep looking to secure their passage through as group leaders. But perhaps he was also keen to extend their remarkable winning sequence which stood at 16 - one of which was on penalties - going into this one.
Although Guardiola made seven changes in the end, he would have been confident of beating the Dutch side who had yet to register a point.
City's home form in this good competition has been good in the last two years with eight wins of their last 11 ties here. And stand in skipper Sergio Aguero had the chances early on to make sure that sequence would be extended.
First he shot straight at former Liverpool keeper Brad Jones - then he nodded a cross from Kevin de Bruyne over the bar.
Gio van Bronckhorst's team had lost their last seven matches in this competition but they gave City a fright midway through the first half.
Ederson Moraes mis-controlled a simple ball forward allowing Jean-Paul Boetius took it off him before the keeper dived in to win the ball back.
Some visiting players appealed for a penalty - but replays showed the Brazilian had just got a nick on the ball first.
It gave the Dutch side confidence though and they were almost ahead as Sam Larsson weaved his way through before rolling his shot wide of the far post.
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But the game was finally opening up and Raheem Sterling worked the ball out to Bernardo Silva who couldn't get any power in his shot and fired it straight at Jones.
It had been a frustrating half for City - who were so keen to put the game - and the group to bed - and it continued after the break.
Bernardo's cross from the right looked like it would give Sterling a tap in but Sven van Beek got bak to hoof clear from under his own bar.
Then Aguero slid in de Bruyne but the Belgian's sliced his effort well wide.
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KdB then picked up a yellow card for a rash challenge on the edge of his own box - meaning he will be banned for the trip to Donetsk. It's fair to say he won't lose any sleep over that.
He could have got the breakthrough minutes later but fired his shot wide before going off to put his feet up.
By now news had come through that Napoli were ahead - meaning City would win the group with a point.
It didn't stop them going for the winner though as Yaya Toure curled a free kick inches off target.
And as they pushed up, there were gaps left at the other end with Steven Berghuis latching onto Larsson's pass and firing in a volley which had to be touched over by Ederson.
City were lacking in there usual sharpness up front and a long ball over the top was controlled by Aguero - but his normally deadly radar was off and he fired wide.
The mood at a subdued Etihad was lifted by the introduction of Foden 15 minutes from time - for his City debut.
The 17-year-old kid from Stokcport is a lifelong City fan and must have dreamed of this moment for many years.
He was one of the stars of England's recent World Cup triumph in India and replaced a man in Yaya Toure - who is twice his age.
Foden didn't look out of place either - with some assured touches as his team pushed for a winner.
When sub Gabriel Jesus flashed a header from a corner just wide it looked like it wasn't going to be their night.
But then Sterling swapped passes with Gundogan and finished in superb style to give City the points.