Phil Foden scored a hat-trick as Manchester City thrashed AEK Athens 5-1 in the UEFA Champions League at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, a performance that signalled a possible return to form for the England midfielder.
The 26-year-old had endured a sharp decline across the past two seasons. He went 10 months without a goal before finding the net in Saturday’s win over Ipswich.
Meanwhile, Liverpool maintained their perfect record in the competition, recovering from two goals down to beat Villarreal 4-3 at Anfield in a thrilling contest.
The visitors led inside four minutes after Georges Mikautadze capitalised on a costly Virgil van Dijk error. Sergi Cardona then dribbled through the Liverpool defence to double the advantage.
Alexis Mac Allister pulled one back nine minutes before the break, heading in Kostas Tsimikas’s corner. Ronald Araujo levelled in first-half stoppage time with a back-post header from Rio Ngumoha’s cross.
Mac Allister put Liverpool ahead, converting Ngumoha’s square pass. Substitute Florian Wirtz added his first goal of the season, before Tani Oluwaseyi made the finish tense for the hosts.
“We are facing very good teams. It’s good to come back but we’ve started losing too many goals this season,” Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola told Amazon Prime.
Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid drew 1-1 at Stuttgart despite playing most of the second half with 10 men.
Borussia Dortmund ended a run of four consecutive away defeats in the competition, winning 2-1 against Sabah in Baku.
Roma claimed their first Champions League victory since 2019, beating pointless Slovan Bratislava 4-0 at the Stadio Olimpico.
Napoli also won, edging Bodo/Glimt 4-3 after twice being pegged back. Scott McTominay scored twice for Massimiliano Allegri’s side, who now have two wins from two.
The results offered relief to Italian clubs, after all four Serie A representatives lost the previous week.