European Champions Manchester City Secure Knockout Stage Qualification with 3-0 Victory Over Young Boys: Player Ratings

With a 3-0 victory over Young Boys, Manchester City was qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday night.

The first half went incredibly smooth for the European champions, with Man City getting two goals ahead at half-time, thanks to Erling Haaland's penalty and Phil Foden's skilful run and finish. Meanwhile Young Boys couldn't make a single shot, clearly struggling against their hosts.

Early in the second half, Young Boys were reduced to ten men, shortly after Haaland made a fantastic shot from outside the box. Man City cruised to the finish line, qualifying with two games still left to play in Group G.

Considering Man City's smashing 6-1 victory over Bournemouth over the weekend, it looked like Young Boys needed a miracle to do something significant in their game at the Etihad Stadium. The game in the first six minutes confirmed these assumptions, as Rico Lewis had his close-range shot cleared off the line after a sharp move.

Haaland, who recently returned from an injury, tested Anthony Racioppi from a narrow angle after a few minutes, while Anthony's saves for Kyle Walker's free-kick and Foden's follow-up were both declined by the Young Boys goalkeeper shortly afterwards.

But the Swiss team's resistance lasted for 23 minutes only as Haaland converted a penalty after Matheus Nunes was tripped by Sandro Lauper in the box. With a confident spot-kick from the Norwegian, it seemed like the game was over for the visitors.

Before half-time, Haaland could have doubled his score, but he made weak contact with Walker's far-post cross. However, Foden added a third goal in first-half stoppage-time, running past Ulisses Garcia and scored from inside the penalty area. This was his third goal in consecutive games.

Right after half-time, Man City increased their lead as Haaland scored a beauty from the edge of the area. Haaland, aged 23, dribbled the ball from 20 yards, created some shooting space with his favored left foot and victoriously shot into the far top corner.

The situation worsened for Young Boys just a minute later when Lauper was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for a foul against Nathan Ake. Attempts by Jack Grealish and Foden were saved by Racioppi, while Josko Gvardiol's powerful shot was blocked from a corner at home.

Man City comfortably reached the final whistle, even lowering their pace, to save some energy for their weekend match with Chelsea. This was quite an uneventful evening for Man City, who have now qualified from Group G with four consecutive victories in Europe.