Phil Foden scored a hat-trick and set up another goal as Manchester City beat AEK Athens 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium on 20 October in the third round of the Champions League league phase. Elliot Anderson and Rayan Cherki also scored, Stavros Pilios replied for the Greek side, and Erling Haaland spent the whole game on the bench, The Guardian and VnExpress report.
How it unfolded
Enzo Maresca made eight changes from the weekend win over Ipswich and started 17-year-old academy graduate Floyd Samba up front; Samba's only previous senior game was a Carabao Cup win over Norwich in which he scored twice. In the 12th minute Enzo Fernández hit the bar with a free-kick and Anderson followed up, his first goal for City and in the Champions League, according to VnExpress. Foden made it 2-0 after neat work from Rico Lewis on the right.
Pilios pulled one back early in the second half, but Cherki restored the two-goal margin from Foden's pass with a dummy and a precise left-footed finish. Foden then met Lewis's lay-off from a long Cherki ball with a first-time shot into the top corner, and completed his treble from close range after a cross by substitute Ryan McAidoo.
| Minute | Team | Scorer |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | Man City | Elliot Anderson |
| 34 | Man City | Phil Foden |
| 52 | AEK Athens | Stavros Pilios |
| 57 | Man City | Rayan Cherki (assist Foden) |
| 65 | Man City | Phil Foden |
| 75 | Man City | Phil Foden |
Goal minutes as reported by Bongda24h and VnExpress.
Foden's way back
The Guardian notes that Foden's goal against Ipswich was his first since mid-December and that he had been sent off in the Manchester derby for kicking out in frustration. SGGP and BongdaPlus both mention that he missed England's 2026 World Cup squad, despite having been named PFA Player of the Year for 2023-24. VnExpress says he is the sixth City player to score a Champions League hat-trick, after Álvaro Negredo, Sergio Agüero, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Haaland.
"Slowly but surely," Foden said of his form. "Still got a long way to go, but I am going in the right direction." He added that he "really enjoyed" playing as a false nine. Maresca said: "I consider him one of the best English players but for different reasons in the last two-three years, he was not good enough - but I know how good he is."
Background
The win followed a 2-4 home defeat by PSG in round two, Bongda24h reports. The official attendance was 40,042, about 20,000 fewer than for the Ipswich game, according to The Guardian, which also notes that Antoine Semenyo is out for eight weeks. Dân Trí says AEK are now winless in 20 Champions League away games.
What comes next
City visit Aston Villa in the Premier League on 24 October, according to VnExpress and Bongda24h, while Dân Trí reports AEK face Real Madrid next in Europe. Read more on Semenyo's injury, the 3-2 win over Ipswich and our European football page.