Mahrez leads the way as City kids take their bows
Riyad Mahrez scored twice as a youthful Manchester City came from a goal behind to dispose of their battling League One opponents and reach the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.
Wanderers stunned the etihad through a Brandon hanlan goal after 22 minutes, but Kevin de Bruyne levelled seven minutes later. Mahrez scored either side of the interval and Phil Foden and Ferran Torres also got on the scoresheet before substitute Cole Palmer, 19, added the sixth with his first goal for the club.
Last night brought five full debuts to kids from Manchester City’s academy — the entire back four were all 18, plus romeo Lavia, a year their junior, in the Fernandinho role. James Mcatee, a fine midfield prospect, later joined from the bench.
One of the newbies, Josh Wilson-esbrand, caught the eye for the team’s third goal, galloping to the goal-line and picking out Mahrez to finish. The club’s most celebrated academy graduate, Phil Foden, certainly noticed, congratulating him as others flocked towards Mahrez.
Watching the might of adebayo akinfenwa rough up City’s teenage back line was some spectacle and provided a case study on why the Premier League champions do not send their young defenders out on loan in the lower leagues.
The 39-year-old gravitated towards Finley Burns — signed from Southend in 2017 — who possesses a slighter frame than defensive partner Luke Mbete.
Both of them handled the constant physical barrage manfully on their first night out in front of a decent crowd, though. Mbete looks a supreme prospect, his passing range reminiscent of aymeric Laporte.
yet Wycombe were dangerous and City fell behind for eight first-half minutes. zack Steffen failed to assert himself from Joe Jacobson’s inswinging corner and the ball pinged about, before ryan Tafazolli was alive to hanlan’s whereabouts, squaring for him to tap-in.
City, though, were out of sight by the break. Foden, in a deeper midfield role, took matters into his hands, bouncing away from three markers in midfield and slicing Wycombe open to create a chance for Kevin de Bruyne.
The talisman would not miss, guiding the ball into the corner.
More followed. Wilson-Esbrand waited for the correct moment to pull back and Mahrez gleefully swept home.
Foden got his goal when gathering possession 25 yards out, looking up and blasting a ferocious strike through keeper david Stockdale.
Torres tapped home a fourth midway through the second half — de Bruyne and Foden the architects — and Mahrez added his second before Cole Palmer bent in a sumptuous sixth.