Player ratings as reigning champions Man City ease to first leg victory over Copenhagen

Manchester City claimed a 3-1 win in their first leg of the round of 16 Champions League match against Copenhagen on Tuesday evening.

The defending champions started the game sharply with Kevin De Bruyne scoring the opening goal in the tenth minute. Unexpectedly, Magnus Mattsson scored an exquisite equalizer, before Bernardo Silva gave Man City the lead again towards the end of the first half.

A third goal was secured by Man City in the injury time of the second half, after multiple late opportunities, with Phil Foden scoring following a skillful play with De Bruyne on the right wing. This gave Pep Guardiola's team a strong lead before the second leg.

Copenhagen had previously demonstrated their capabilities against Manchester teams in the Champions League group stage, however, hosting the world champions in Denmark was likely to pose a bigger challenge.

The game's rhythm was established early with Copenhagen assuming a deep 4-5-1 formation when out of possession, but they were unable to prevent Man City from scoring the first goal after ten minutes. De Bruyne seized Foden's intelligent through ball and delivered an outstanding finish from inside the penalty area.

Silva nearly doubled the lead for Man City, with a near post cross that accidentally got headed onto his own crossbar by Denis Vavro. Some last-minute defending ensured that Copenhagen stayed in the game and capitalized on an error by Ederson to score a surprising equalizer in the 34th minute.

The rare opportunity was given to Copenhagen by Ederson's misdirected pass, with Mattsson delivering a spectacular curl from the box's edge following Mohamed Elyounoussi's initial blocked attempt.

However, Man City regained their lead just before half-time. A Copenhagen clearance was intercepted by De Bruyne and the ball conveniently landed in front of Silva, who effortlessly scored from just eight yards out.

Immediately after the break, De Bruyne almost put the visitors firmly in the lead but was stopped short by goalkeeper Kamil Grabara. Substitute Jeremy Doku also had his long-range attempt impressively stopped by the Polish goalkeeper.

In a rare display, Erling Haaland missed two excellent late-match opportunities to add a third goal, but Foden compensated for him, scoring from close range after a clever one-two with De Bruyne in injury time.

The substitutes who did not get a chance to play included: Stefan Ortega (GK), Scott Carson (GK), Manuel Akanji, Rico Lewis, Jacob Wright, Mahamadou Susoho, Oscar Bobb, Julian Alvarez.