Manchester City 5-1 Atalanta: 3 reasons why the Cityzens won | UEFA Champions League 2019/20
The champions of England, Manchester City, hosted Italy's third best outfit, Atalanta, and they had to overcome a lackluster start to brush their Italian guests aside.
Pep Guardiola's men had to come from behind after conceding a penalty in the 28th minute, and goals from Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling proved to be swift as well as robust responses to the question asked by Atalanta early on.
City started very slowly, and Fernandinho conceded a penalty, bringing down Josip Ilicic as Atalanta broke rapidly on a counter. Ruslan Malinovskiy converted from the spot to give the Italian team an early advantage.
Guardiola's men responded a few minutes later, as Raheem Sterling played Sergio Aguero through for the equalizer. Four minutes later, Sterling was hacked in the box and Aguero stepped up to score the resultant penalty.
The Man City goal procession continued in the second half as Sterling was played through by Phil Foden for the third City goal of the evening. Sterling went on to score in the 64th and 69th minutes, completing a hattrick in 11 minutes.
The only blemish on City's wonderful time out was a red card shown to Foden after a second yellow card offense in the 82nd minute.
Here we analyze three reasons why Manchester City beat Atalanta.
#3 Manchester City too good for Atalanta
This was a total mismatch on paper, and few doubted the game's result. However, the Italian outfit started the game on the front foot, as they drew first blood. Man City would go on to give Atalanta a rude awakening, thumping them comprehensively.
The Italians have followed up their wonderful performances in the Italian Serie A last season with a woeful UCL campaign. Atalanta sits rock bottom in Group C with 3 losses so far and 11 goals conceded. That's a far cry from City's lofty performances in the Champions League this season, as the English club has brushed aside all comers this term with 9 points and 3 wins so far.
Atalanta may have shocked the old guard in the Italian peninsula last season, but Pep Guardiola's Man City is another ball game entirely.