A night with no European football, and no suspense either
The Europa League had the continent’s attention. Manchester City had Norwich, 14th in the Championship, at the Etihad in the third round of the League Cup.
Half an hour was enough to settle what kind of evening this would be. Enzo Maresca rotated without stripping out the attacking threat. Allan, signed from Palmeiras in the summer for 37.5 million euros, laid on the opener for Floyd Samba. Rayan Cherki doubled it after Ayyoub Bouaddi handed the ball over. Allan scored the third himself early in the second half.
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Samba and McAidoo finish a job that was already done
Samba got his second just before the hour. Ryan McAidoo added a fifth late on. Four different scorers, three assists, and nothing resembling a contest for the last twenty-five minutes.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the same competition had produced something else entirely. Manchester United led Brighton 2-0 at Old Trafford and lost 3-2. Before that, United had not lost a home game from two goals up since 1976, a run covering 145 attempts.
Allan’s first proper look at English football
City brought him in to add bite through the middle. A goal and an assist on his first real outing is not a bad opening statement, even against Championship opposition.
Cherki keeps stacking minutes and end product while the rotation turns. The draw for the next round is where City find out whether any of this gets tested.
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