Manchester City p1-1 Sevilla: Nemanja Gudelj the fall guy for La Liga side as Pep Guardiola’s team win penalty shootout

Manchester City have won the UEFA Super Cup for the first time in their history, after beating Sevilla on penalties in Piraeus.

City dominated the first half, forcing two good saves from Bono before Sevilla struck from nowhere to take the lead.

A quick, three pass move started by Bono ended with a towering header from Youssef En-Nesyri to put Sevilla ahead.

Ederson made two important saves from En-Nesyri in the second half, either side of an equaliser when Cole Palmer nodded in a cross from Rodri.

With no further goals the match went to penalties, with Sevilla’s fifth kick from Nemanja Gudelj’s hitting the bar to hand City the victory.

How will City cope without Kevin? In his pre-match press conference, a downbeat Pep Guardiola broke the news that Kevin De Bruyne would be absent long term, maybe into 2024.

It’s a blow for City, particularly after a summer where they offloaded other sources of assists and goals in Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez. They’ve strengthened elsewhere, with impressive turns here from Mateo Kovacic and debutant Josko Gvadriol, but the lack of their most creative force behind the forward line is a huge headache for Guardiola.

Foden was tried here, and flitted in and out of the match; the ball went wide more often than not and Erling Haaland had one of his quietest games to date in a City shirt. Guardiola will workshop a solution for sure, but life for the foreseeable without Kevin could be taxing while that takes shape.

It was a tight match, and one of the most entertaining one-on-ones of the night was the battle between Palmer and Marcos Acuna. In the second half particularly Palmer enjoyed notable success, leaving Acuna stranded on several occasions, and his goal capped an exciting performance.

Manchester City: Ederson 6, Walker 7, Akanji 6, Gvardiol 7, Ake 6; Rodri 7, Kovacic 7, Foden 6; Palmer 8, Haaland 6, Grealish 6

Sevilla: Bono 7; Jesus Navas 7, Bade 6, Gudelj 7, Acuna 6; Jordan 6, Rakitic 6; Oliver Torres 5, Ocampos 7, Lamela 6; En-Nesyri 7

SUBS: Montiel 6, Suso 6, Rafa Mir 6, Juanlu 5

8’ BONO’S DOUBLE After easily gathering a low drive from Palmer, Bono palms away a flying header from Ake a minute later that was headed into the ground before kicking up high. That’s good judgment.

Given that it’s Bono’s first action, you can probably go to Twitter/X right now and try to hold your sides in as several thousand U2 related puns about that save are confidently launched into cyberspace.

17’ ANOTHER GOOD SAVE Grealish shimmies past Navas on the left corner of the area, and unloads a curler to the top corner. Bono gets across though, and tips it out for a corner.

25’ GOAL! MANCHESTER CITY 0 SEVILLA 1 (EN-NESYRI 25) What a header! From nothing Sevilla lead. Bono skids a fortuitous ball forwards, which finds Jordan, who works out to Acuna tight on the left wing. Acuma dumps an inswinger to the penalty spot, where En-Nesyri rises between Gvardiol and Ake and thumps a header into the bottom corner with Ederson rooted!

50’ GOOD SAVE! City hem Sevilla in around their own area, until Sevilla break suddenly again as Ocampos skips past the sliding Walker and is away. He’s got En-Nesyri clear to his right, and finds him; En-Nesyri shoots first time from 15 yards out but Ederson saves with his legs! That’s a poor finish; if he’d hit either corner this might be over.

63’ GOAL! MANCHESTER CITY 1 (PALMER 63) SEVILLA 1 City are level! Rodri takes matters into his own hands, and lofts a purposeful cross to the back post from the left. Palmer times his run perfectly, and nods it back across Bono into the far corner to level it up!

65’ SEVILLA ARE IN AGAIN! Ocampos slides En-Nesyri straight through on the left of the area, and only a superb, point blank save from Ederson keeps it at one each!

PENS – GUDELJ HITS THE BAR! MANCHESTER CITY 5-4 SEVILLA, THE SUPER CUP IS GUARDIOLA’S AGAIN!

Pep Guardiola becomes the first manager to win the UEFA Super Cup with three different clubs.