Manchester City were held at bay in the first half by Viktoria Plzen, but put together a great second-half performance en route to a 3-0 win. It's a brilliant start for the Citizens, who have been terrible on the road in previous Champions League campaigns.
Viktoria Plzen vs. Manchester City: Final score 0-3, Citizens win comfortably
An even first half gave way to a dominant second for Manchester City, who had no problem winning in the Czech Republic.
Sergio Aguero was ineffective in the first half, but made himself into a serious man of the match candidate on the back of just 15 minutes of spectacular play between the beginning of the second half and City's third goal. His assist for the opener was brilliant and he added a goal of his own in the 58th minute.
More from our team site: Manchester City blog Bitter and Blue
While City had the better of the early chances, they were far from spectacular. Edin Dzeko had a header saved in the 23rd minute, off a cross from Aleksandr Kolarov to the back post. Aguero hit the post three minutes later and Lukas Hejda denied a good chance in the 37th minute, tackling the ball away from Dzeko when he appeared to be clean in on goal.
City started quickly in the second half, with Aguero setting up the winner for Dzeko in the 48th minute. On what looked to be a 50-50 challenge off a City clearance, Aguero comfortably won the ball and turned away from his defender before squaring for Dzeko. The Bosnian found himself one-on-one with Matús Kozácik and finished calmly from 12 yards.
Plzen crumbled at that point, quickly letting in two more goals. Yaya Toure netted an absolute screamer from 25 yards out in the 53rd minute, seemingly putting the game to rest just five minutes after Plzen looked capable of getting a draw. Aguero put the nail in the coffin five minutes after that, scoring off a pass by Samir Nasri.
With the result well in hand, City got a bit more conservative for the final 30 minutes of the match. Aguero had a couple more chances and Tomas Horava hit the crossbar for Plzen late, but there would be no more goals after Aguero’s.
Viktoria Plzen: Kazacik, Limbersky, Prochazka, Hejda (Hubnik 67’), Rajtoral, Horvath, Horava, Kovarik, Kolar (Duris 61’), Petrzela, Bakos (Tecil 84’)
Goals: None
Manchester City: Hart, Kolarov, Nastasic, Kompany, Zabaleta, Fernandinho, Toure (Garcia 80’), Nasri, Navas (Milner 67’), Aguero, Dzeko (Negredo 83’)
Goals: Dzeko (48’), Toure (53’), Aguero (58’)
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