Manchester City–AEK: Foden hits three as Cherki shines

Phil Foden appeared almost everywhere on the scoresheet. Three goals, an assist and a 5–1 win: Manchester City overwhelmed AEK Athens at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday 20 October 2026. Enzo Maresca’s team established a lead, answered the visitors’ goal and finished with a commanding margin.

Elliot Anderson opened the scoring in the 12th minute, reacting close to goal after Enzo Fernández’s free-kick struck the crossbar. Foden doubled the advantage in the 34th from Rico Lewis’s pass. City reached the interval 2–0 ahead, with their superiority already reflected on the scoreboard.

AEK found an opening after the break. Stavros Pilios reduced the deficit in the 52nd minute following a transition. At 2–1, the contest could still become tense. City answered quickly: five minutes later, Rayan Cherki restored the two-goal cushion from a Foden pass, changing direction before finishing with his left foot.

Foden then resumed his scoring role. Another Lewis assist helped him make it 4–1 in the 65th minute. In the 76th, Ryan McAidoo supplied the finish that completed his hat-trick. City had turned an early second-half warning into an emphatic win.

The decisive passage was not only the hat-trick itself. It also lay between Pilios’s goal and Cherki’s reply: City allowed AEK only five minutes to imagine a recovery. Foden was the main finisher, but his assist for 3–1 made him central to that collective response as well.

The combinations tell the story. Lewis twice supplied Foden, Foden found Cherki and McAidoo contributed to the final goal. City spread the creative responsibility while retaining a focal point to finish the moves. The Greek goal nevertheless showed that possession alone does not remove the danger of a transition.

Maresca used his bench throughout the second half. McAidoo replaced Floyd Samba in the 62nd minute and later assisted the fifth goal. Vitor Reis and Rayan Aït-Nouri entered in the 72nd, with Kaden Braithwaite following in the 83rd. The score allowed City to share minutes without losing their attacking output.

AEK made two changes at half-time, including the introduction of Aboubakary Koïta. Those adjustments preceded their goal. They could not, however, prevent City scoring three times between the 57th and 76th minutes.

Manchester City : Gianluigi Donnarumma, Rúben Dias, Abdukodir Khusanov, Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis, Rayan Cherki, Enzo Fernández, Elliot Anderson, Floyd Samba, Allan Elias, Phil Foden.

AEK Athens : Alberto Brignoli, Filipe Relvas, Harold Moukoudi, Stavros Pilios, Lazaros Rota, Razvan Marin, Kervin Arriaga, João Mário, Lovro Majer, Barnabás Varga, Luka Jovic.

Phil Foden is SNA’s player of the match. Three goals and an assist mean he was directly involved in four of City’s five goals. His performance combined repeated finishing runs with the ability to supply a teammate just as AEK threatened to return to the contest. This is SNA’s editorial selection.

Manchester City have their second win of the league phase and six points from three matches. The result restores momentum after their European defeat against PSG. AEK demonstrated that they could reduce the deficit, but conceded too quickly after their goal to sustain doubt in the home side.