FEATURE | Three standout players in Manchester City’s Youth League win over AS Monaco | OneFootball

Manchester City’s academy beat AS Monaco’s Groupe Élite 5-3 in La Turbie on Wednesday afternoon in a UEFA Youth League match attended by Get French Football News. These are the three players who stood out.

Mahamadou Sangaré – Manchester City

The 18-year-old is already a pretty known quantity in France. Having left Paris Saint-Germain to join Manchester City over the summer, he returned to France and made a big impact, netting a hat-trick. He was prolific in last season’s edition of the competition, too, netting eight goals in six games, including two hat-tricks, against Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich.

He ran an admittedly very inexperienced and recently formed Monaco defence ragged. He impressed with the variety of the goals that he scored, the first with his head, having leapt highest, despite being the smallest player in the box. His second was a calmly taken penalty that he himself earned with a driving run and jink back in the box, and his third came from a clinically taken rebound.

Monaco struggled with his movement throughout. He was capable of being a focal point off which others could come into play, but he looked most dangerous when he drifted out and came back inside. PSG were disappointed to lose him over the summer, and you can already see why.

Nahel Haddani – AS Monaco

There wasn’t too much joy for Monaco. Their manager, Djimi Traoré, admitted post-match that his side struggled to compete against this Manchester City side, especially in light of the absences, due to a mixture of the ongoing U-20 World Cup in Chile and the injury crisis, which has notably seen the likes of Aladji Bamba and Pape Cabral moved into the senior set-up.

But when Monaco did get chances, it was invariably Nahel Haddani (16), who was at the heart of it. The game could have panned out differently. Prior to City racing into a three-goal lead, Haddani’s mazy run to the byline and cut back for Nacim Dendani should have allowed the Principality club to take the advantage.

He finished the job himself later in the half, playing on the shoulder of the last man, beating Spike Brits with his initial effort, which clipped the inside of both posts, before he then got the rebound. He continued to be proactive and aggressive off the ball in the second half and was rewarded with a second goal when he dispossessed Stephen Mfuni (who otherwise had an excellent game) and then beat Brits one-on-one. One of the younger players in this Monaco side, he has shown that he already has an eye for goal.

Ryan McAidoo – Manchester City

The 17-year-old England youth international was a handful on the right of Manchester City’s attack. It was his cross that was turned into his own goal by Melvin Gomes, and his ability one-on-one allowed him to win his individual battle.

He has quick feet and a good reading of the game. The positioning on his was impeccable and it allowed him space to get ahead of his marker by the time the ball arrived at his feet. His composure to dribble around Jules Stawiecki, before then cutting back, leaving the recovering defender on the floor, and then blasting into an empty net from one yard out is the mark of a player very confident in his own ability. When you see the consistency with which he takes players out of the game, you can see where he gets that confidence.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from La Turbie