Foden hat-trick drives Manchester City to 5-1 Champions League win over AEK Athens
Phil Foden scored a hat-trick as Manchester City beat AEK Athens 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium in a Champions League match on 20 October 2026, helping City get their campaign back on track after being pummelled by Paris Saint-Germain. The victory came in front of half-full stands and a loud contingent of visiting supporters who filled a three-tier corner.
Manager Enzo Maresca named eight changes from the side that beat Ipswich, bringing Enzo Fernández and Elliot Anderson back into the starting XI while leaving Erling Haaland on the bench. Maresca had urged the team to make noise on the pitch, but the match began in a quieter fashion as many home fans skipped the fixture; AEK supporters were far more vocal, arriving two hours before kick-off to create a party atmosphere.
City opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Fernández’s free-kick hit the bar and Anderson followed up to prod the rebound into an empty net; the celebrations were muted. AEK had half the possession in the opening quarter and fashioned promising moves without ever seriously threatening the City penalty area.
Allan, a Champions League debutant for City, offered direct running on the left and nearly scored when his fierce shot clipped the bar and flew into the stands. With seven matches in 21 days for City, fringe and academy players were afforded opportunities to impress, and Allan was singled out for lively attacking play.
AEK pulled a goal back after a lapse in concentration from Abdukodir Khusanov allowed Zini to turn and feed Stavros Pilios, who lashed the ball across Gianluigi Donnarumma; AEK’s supporters erupted. City restored control when Rayan Cherki produced a neat trick inside the box and placed a finish into the corner to re-establish a two-goal cushion.
Cherki later fed a long ball that Rico Lewis controlled into the path of Foden, who struck a first-time finish into the top corner from the edge of the box. Ryan McAidoo, introduced from the bench, delivered a cross that Foden met with a striker’s instinct to complete his treble and draw the largest cheer of the night; Foden had scored his first goal since mid-December at the weekend.
Maesca’s decision to start 17-year-old academy graduate Floyd Samba — whose only other senior outings were in a Carabao Cup win against Norwich when he scored twice on debut — was described in the match report as a deployment “somewhere between plan C and D.” Samba functioned largely as a decoy and acquitted himself well, but the piece noted that whether he is a suitable replacement for the absent senior forward remains unknown.
The win returned Manchester City’s Champions League campaign to a more positive footing after the heavy defeat by Paris Saint-Germain, with Maresca’s rotated side producing a comprehensive result at the Etihad Stadium.
