Former Ball Boy Brings Manchester City To A Perfect Record In The Champions League

Young Manchester City player Micah Hamilton celebrated the game against Crvena Zvezda in the Champions League. (X/@ManCity)

JAKARTA - Former ball boy Micah Hamilton and Oscar Bobb gave Manchester City a perfect record by defeating FK Crvena Zvezda 3-2 in the last match of Group G of the Champions League at the Rajko Mitic Stadium, Thursday, December 14 in the morning WIB.

Man City followed in the footsteps of Real Madrid who set a perfect record by winning all the group stage matches in the Champions League.

The defending champion also showed the most productive team by scoring 18 goals and only conceded seven times. In the last match, Man City, who came down with the second-tier player, conceded twice.

However, Man City had no trouble overcoming Crvena Zvezda or some called him the Red Star Belgrade who played at home. The victory is no longer influential because the Cityzens have qualified for the last 16.

Meanwhile, Crvena Zvezda occupied the bottom of the standings with one point. Contrast to Man City, they never won the game during the preliminary round.

In that match, Pep Guardiola's manager overhauled the Man City squad. There were nine core players who were backed up and only left defender Manuel Akanji and midfielder Jack Grealish at the starting line up.

Guardiola then entered Hamilton who was still 20. Hamilton is a club academy dropout and was once a ball boy in the Man City match.

The recording when Guardiola gave instructions to Hamilton, who was still a child and became a ball boy in 2017, went viral when he was played in the match against Crvena Zvezda.

Apart from Hamilton, there is still Oscar Bobb who replaces compatriot Erling Haaland as a center forward. Bobb, who is still 20, is also a pillar of the Norwegian national team with Haaland.

Several reserve players were fielded such as Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacevic Rico Lewis to goalkeeper Stefan Ortega who replaced Ederson. Only, they also regularly play as substitutes in the Man City match.

Yes, Guardiola feels the need to rotate the players because the team as Champions League champions will play the Club World Cup or Club World Championships in Saudi Arabia next week.

Despite fielding the reserve players, Man City is still too strong for the hosts. They were able to dominate the game and were already ahead when the game entered the 19th minute.

Hamilton paid Guardiola's trust by opening up Man City's victory after beating goalkeeper Omar Glazer.

He fired from a narrow angle to put the team 1-0 up. The score lasted until the end of the first half.

In the second half, Man City consistently appeared to attack. They fully control the game and do not give the opponent the opportunity to develop the game.

Man City's attack also gave results after Bobb increased the team's advantage in the 62nd minute. It started with Bobb's solo run and coolly completed the opportunity to convert into a goal.

The hosts had a chance to reduce the lag when South Korean player Hwang In-beom scored in the 76th minute. This makes the score change 2-1.

But Man City was unstoppable. They added another goal from the penalty spot in the 85th minute.

The penalty was given after Hamilton, who throughout the match terrorized the opponent's defense, was brought down by Nasser Djiga by pulling his jersey. Midfielder Kalvin Phillips completed the penalty execution well.

Furthermore, Aleksandar Katai scored a second goal for this Serbian league champion. The score becomes 3-2 which makes Man City the second England team to win six preliminary matches after Liverpool in 2021/22.