- Guardiola’s side defeated the hosts 3-2 to maintain their perfect qualifying record
- Hamilton’s explosive debut saw him score and win the penalty ahead of Kalvin Phillips
- Man United are full as captain Bruno Fernandes says he thought Bournemouth would be easy It all starts
Pep Guardiola was shocked to learn that Manchester City debutant Micah Hamilton was a ball boy for the club in 2017.
Hamilton scored in what was his first senior appearance as City defeated Red Star Belgrade 3–2 to end the group stage with six wins from six games.
After the match, Guardiola was shown a photo of himself and Hamilton dating from 2017, when the younger was a ball boy at the Etihad Stadium.
Hamilton was one of the ball boys who instructed Guardiola to increase his team’s intensity by ensuring matches restarted more quickly, but the manager seemed unable to remember the youngster’s start.
‘I did not know! Six years ago? Wow!’ Guardiola said as he looked at the image.
Micah Hamilton (left) scored on his Man City debut after getting the nod from Pep Guardiola
But Guardiola was unaware that he had previously called upon Hamilton’s services when he was a ball boy in 2017.
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‘What a goal! And what a game. I’m so happy for him.
‘He trains with us very often, we saw his skills one-on-one from the front and he scored a fantastic goal and penalty and when it wasn’t possible 1vs1, he made extra passes. He was aggressive defensively.”
Colleague Oscar Bobb was also on the scoresheet, while Kalvin Phillips scored a penalty to convert his first goal for City after a difficult two years.
There was some surprise when Phillips got the ball for the penalty, but Guardiola revealed the midfielder has been impressed with his shooting skills and wanted to boost his confidence.
‘He’s an incredibly good taker. I know Phil (Foden) had ambitions to do it, but Kalvin is an incredible penalty taker.
The 20-year-old scored a perfect goal just twenty minutes into his debut for Man City
Kalvin Phillips also scored his first Manchester City goal from the penalty spot after his rare start
‘The match was not over yet and for his confidence it was a difficult match because they were so aggressive man-to-man, many interruptions and so many mistakes.
‘It wasn’t easy to play comfortably, but we found our quality at the right moments.’
