![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/67\/590x\/secondary\/4968018.jpg?r=1695158444987\")
<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/67\/590x\/secondary\/4968023.jpg?r=1695158445028\")
<\/p>\n
We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n
But somehow they did – and grabbed themselves an unlikely 1-0 lead into the bargain. Totally against the run of play, Red Star opened the scoring through Bukari in the 45th minute.<\/p>\n
The Ghanaian striker was initially flagged for offside but a VAR check ruled that he had timed his run perfectly. It was the visitors\u2019 first shot of the game after 22 with no joy from City. The closest the home side came in the first half was a 25th minute header from Erling Haaland which hit the bar from Phil Foden\u2019s cross.<\/p>\n
If the unmarked Norwegian should have done better then Foden was also culpable in the 41st minute with a close-range header which Glazer kept out. However the Red Star keeper was finally beaten two minutes after the restart. A lovely interchange between Alvarez and Haaland opened up the defence and the Argentinian equalised from the tightest of angles.<\/p>\n
Kyle Walker thought he had given City the lead in the 51st minute only for the goal to be ruled out for offside by the assistant referee. Haaland, following in Alvarez\u2019s shot, should really have scored when Glazer spilled the ball into his path.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/67\/590x\/secondary\/4968021.jpg?r=1695158445069\")
<\/p>\n
Instead it was Alvarez who put City up on the hour after a howler from the Red Star goalkeeper who made a complete dog\u2019s dinner of punching his angled free-kick away and allowed it to float into his net. A Glazer the toast of Manchester? Who would have thought it?<\/p>\n
With the wind in their sails City looked odds-on to add to their tally. Haaland had a far-post header saved and Belgian flyer Jeremy Doku, who had replaced Bernardo Silva in the 44th minute, was also denied by Glazer.<\/p>\n
But the third goal finally came when the excellent Rodri curled a delightful finish beyond the Red Star keeper in the 73rd minute to make the game safe. City passed 100 attacks as the game drew to its ultimately satisfactory conclusion – statistical confirmation of their total superiority.<\/p>\n