Man City defeats Leipzig with late goals from Alvarez and Doku.

Wednesday's 3-1 Champions League victory over RB Leipzig was secured by Manchester City thanks to late goals from substitutes Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku.

 

For the third year in a row, City dominated the competition against Leipzig, with Phil Foden scoring the first goal following some standout play from Rico Lewis, a teenage wing-back.

Leipzig, who had been clearly outplayed in the first half, responded quickly to tie the score with a sweeping counterattack led by Lois Openda.

But with Leipzig focused on talisman Erling Haaland, who scored five in 60 minutes the last time these sides met, it was the Norwegian's understudy who scored the crucial goal, curling in City's second just five minutes after being introduced.

Doku sealed the win with a goal in injury time.

City forward Foden praised Alvarez's "magical" goal, telling TNT sports "he's someone we look to for the big goals."

"He came on and changed the game. He's a really important player for us."

City boss Pep Guardiola praised his "perfect" side, saying "we took the game with a lot of passes and when a team is able to do this, very nice things are going to happen to you."

"We played a fantastic game in all departments."

City came into the game after two losses in a row for the first time since January.

Guardiola told the post-match press conference the victory put his team's recent struggles "in perspective".

"People say 'oh, you lost a game, what happened?' but you need to put it in perspective, after what we've won in the last years, we're still here and we have got this passion."

Leipzig manager Marco Rose called the result "a deserved win for City, even if we would have wished to defend that 1-1 until the end."

"We'll continue to learn from the best."

Foden and Lewis impress

Bullish in the first half of Saturday's 2-2 draw with German champions Bayern Munich, Leipzig were timid in the opening half, repeatedly losing the ball on the rare occasions City gifted it to them.

Foden and Lewis terrorised Leipzig down the right flank, the two linking for the opener 25 minutes in.

Lewis found an onrushing Bernardo Silva, who played it back for the 18-year-old to find Foden, who hammered the his shot into the grass, the ball looping past 'keeper Janis Blaswich and into the net.

City showed their quality, cutting through the stagnant Leipzig defence, Haaland going close twice while advancing from the left to close the half.

Rose made no changes to his stuttering side at half-time but Leipzig emerged a different team, drawing level just three minutes after the break.

Yussuf Poulsen threaded a pass to a sprinting Openda, who kept City's Manuel Akanji at bay with one arm while squeezing his shot in off the post as a frustrated Guardiola kicked the turf, cupping his face in his hands.

With Leipzig happy to sit and counter and City equally happy to control possession, Foden looked the most likely, and he nearly caught out Blaswich with a free-kick that bounced back off the crossbar.

Foden was replaced with 11 minutes remaining by Alvarez and the Argentinian World Cup winner would prove crucial, collecting a pass from fellow substitute Doku and unleashing an inch-perfect shot into the top corner.

Doku got a goal of his own as the clock wound down, finishing off a City counter to seal the win for the visitors.

The victory was City's first in three attempts in Saxony, having drawn and lost in previous visits to Leipzig in the past two Champions League campaigns.