Phil Foden shouted the loudest on a quiet night at the Etihad Stadium, announcing his personal return to form with an instinctive hat-trick as Manchester City dispatched AEK Athens with little fuss. Enzo Maresca had called for City to make their own noise amid the cacophony around the club but a businesslike victory in front of 20,000 fewer than watched the weekend’s win over Ipswich was required to get their Champions League back on track after suffering at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain.
Those in attendance, officially 40,042 but that felt optimistic, saw Foden shine on the right wing and as a central striker, showing there is life without Erling Haaland, who watched from the bench. Admittedly, the opposition were not a match for the Premier League side, whose other goals came from Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki. Stavros Pilios’s consolation was more a reward for the boisterous fans in yellow and black, who created the atmosphere, than for the overall efforts of the visitors.
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