Foden leads Manchester City to crush AEK Athens 5-1 in the UEFA Champions League

Manchester City achieved a big win over visiting AEK Athens by a score of 5-1 in the match that brought the two sides together in the third round of the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, held on 20 October 2026 at 22:00 Damascus time.

Elliot Anderson opened the scoring for Manchester City in the 12th minute, before Philip Walter Foden added the second goal in the 34th minute. Stavros Pilios narrowed the gap for AEK Athens in the 52nd minute, but Mathis Rayan Cherki restored the two-goal gap in the 57th minute. Philip Walter Foden completed his task by scoring two further goals in the 65th and 76th minutes to personally complete a hat-trick and lead his team to a crushing win.

Philip Walter Foden was chosen as man of the match after scoring 3 goals and creating another goal during the full 90 minutes, with a rating of 9.58.

Manchester City dominated the course of the match with a possession rate of 64 percent compared to 36 percent for AEK Athens, and carried out 17 shots, 7 of them on target, compared to 11 shots for AEK Athens, 3 of which were on target. Manchester City also had the upper hand in expected goals with 2.92 compared to 0.78 for AEK Athens. The match did not see any red cards, while Manchester City received one yellow card.

The match was officiated by referee Willy Delajod, and was broadcast on the beIN Sports network.

With this win, Manchester City raised its tally to 3 points in 17th place after scoring 4 goals and conceding 4 goals, while AEK Athens remained in 20th place with 3 points as well after scoring two goals and conceding 3 goals.