Man City 1-1 Sevilla (5-4 pens): Guardiola's side win the Super Cup

Manchester City 1-1 Sevilla (5-4 pens): Man City win their FOURTH trophy this year as they beat Sevilla in a penalty shootout in Athens to clinch the UEFA Super Cup after Cole Palmer’s superb equaliser

• Manchester City have won the UEFA Super Cup for the first time in their history after beating Sevilla 
• Pep Guardiola’s side fell behind to Youssef En-Nesryi’s header before Cole Palmer levelled the scores 
• WATCH: ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ – Episode 1 – Mail Sport’s brand new football show 

Typical. You don’t win a European trophy for more than 53 years and then two come along at once.

Lifting the UEFA Super Cup here at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium didn’t require anything like the super-human effort from Manchester City as it did to win the Champions League and complete a Treble in June.

But Pep Guardiola’s side had to go through the drama of penalties again after losing the Community Shield in a shootout to Arsenal 11 days ago, as another trophy looked like slipping through their fingers on a sweaty night in Athens.

So City have their first Super Cup – and their fourth piece of silverware in less than three months – as the club continued to break new ground 67 days on from their maiden European Cup triumph over Inter Milan across the Aegean Sea in Istanbul.

For Guardiola, it was a fourth success in this fixture. But spare a thought for Sevilla: the serial Europa League winners have now lost it six times in a row over the last 17 years.

Manchester City won the UEFA Super Cup for the first time in their history after beating Sevilla in a penalty shootout

Kyle Walker lifted the trophy after the dramatic finale in Athens, with City clinching their first piece of silverware this year

City’s players celebrated wildly after watching Sevilla defender Nemanja Gudelj rattle the decisive spot-kick off the crossbar

Stepping up in sudden death, Gudelj fired his penalty against the top of the crossbar, sealing his side’s agonising defeat

The Spaniards took the lead midway through the first half, but City levelled through Cole Palmer who a cracking game.

Ederson was the other standout player and he came to the rescue with a couple of crucial saves, although he didn’t have to make another in the shootout as Nemanja Gudelj missed the only one of 10 attempts when he hit the bar with a rising effort.

If this gets the ball rolling on another epic campaign for City, they chose a good place to do it. The Greeks know a thing or two about marathons, and this season could exceed last season’s 61-game slog thanks to the Community Shield, FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia before Christmas and this showpiece at Olimpiacos’ stadium in the port city of Piraeus which was practically full to its 30,000 capacity.

It is bound to take its toll and the news that Kevin De Bruyne will be out for the rest of the year was a huge blow on the eve of this game.

City definitely missed his cunning and that of Bernardo Silva, particularly when Sevilla threw a red blanket over their attempts to break them down after taking a surprise lead in the 25th minute.

It came at a point in the game when City had overcome a shaky start to test goalkeeper Yassine Bounou who, having held onto Palmer’s low drive, gave up trying to catch anything else at all.

Bounou beat away Nathan Ake’s header, a tame effort from Jack Grealish and then Kyle Walker’s cross, with new £77million signing Josko Gvardiol firing the loose ball over the bar on his first start at left-back.

Guardiola still wasn’t happy with what he was seeing and made his feelings known to assistant Juanma Lillo in the dugout before doing the same with his players during a drinks break.

The City boss is rarely satisfied, as Erling Haaland will attest and City’s danger man had one of his quieter nights, closely marshalled by Loic Bade. 

Cole Palmer levelled the scores for City in the second half after latching onto Rodri’s delivery and steering a header home

The youngster, who also scored in the Community Shield, rose highest at the far post to nod cleverly above Yassine Bounou

Palmer was mobbed by his team-mates, having handed a dominant City a route back into the end-to-end encounter

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Guardiola paid particular attention to Gvardiol during the brief interval, but what he said didn’t seem to work because City were behind moments after the restart.

Palmer went down high up the pitch but French referee Francois Letexier waved play on and suddenly Sevilla had an overload on the left. Lucas Ocampos fed Marcos Acuna who swung a cross towards the edge of the six-yard box where Youssef En-Nesyri rose between Ake and a rather reticent Gvardiol to power a header past Ederson.

Erik Lamela wasted another chance shortly afterwards and City could so easily have been two goals down four minutes into the second half as they were hit with a series of counter-attacks.

The rampaging Ocampos skipped over Walker’s desperate sliding tackle on the touchline and fed En-Nesyri whose first-time effort from close-range was kept out by Ederson.

It proved to be a vital moment as City equalised in the 53 minute just when it looked like they were running out of gas.

MATCH FACTS AND PLAYER RATINGS

MAN CITY (4-1-4-1): Ederson 8; Walker 5.5, Akanji 5, Ake 6.5, Gvardiol 6; Rodri 6.5; Palmer 7 (Alvarez 85), Foden 6, Kovacic 6, Grealish 6.5; Haaland 5

Subs: Ortega, Moreno, Carson, Dias, Phillips, Stones, Laporte, Gomez, Perrone, Bobb, Lewis, McAtee

Scorer: Palmer 63

Manager: Pep Guardiola 7

SEVILLA (4-2-3-1): Bounou 6.5; Navas 6 (Montiel 83), Bade 7, Gudelj 6, Acuna 6.5; Jordan 6.5, Rakitic 7; Ocampos 7.5, Torres 6 (Juanlu 74, 6), Lamela 6.5 (Suso 90+4); En Nesyri 6 (Mir 90+4) 

Subs: Dmitrovic, Gattoni, Pedrosa, Tecatito, Sow, Papu Gomez, Kike Salas, Manu Bueno

Scorer: En-Nesyri 25

Booked: Bade, Lamela, Juanlu

Manager: Jose Luis Mendilibar 6

Referee: Francois Letexier (France) 7

Sevilla took the lead against the run of play in the first half through Youssef En-Nesyri, who arrowed a header into the net

Physical forward En-Nesyri had clambered above Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol to steer beyond the rooted Ederson

Earlier in the contest, Ake met a delivery from the right-hand flank but could only guide his header wide of the target

Rodri swung a cross to the far post where Palmer had peeled away on his own. There was still lots of work to do as the 21-year-old shouted to Haaland to duck out of the way before guiding his header coolly over the stranded Bounou.

Sevilla countered again straightaway and again Ederson saved brilliantly one-on-one from En-Nesyri.

Another sublime piece of skill from Palmer ended with Bounou turning away his shot, and both Foden and Ake had opportunities in front of goal before we entered four minutes of stoppage-time.

By then Sevilla were playing for penalties as coach Jose Luis Mendilibar sent on his best takers. City fans must have feared the worst when it went to another shoot-out, but this time their team held their nerve.

A rapid counter-attack from Sevilla almost saw City fall two goals behind, only for Ederson to smother En-Nesryi’s low shot

Goalkeeper Bounou was forced into action on several occasions for the LaLiga outfit, including several eye-catching stops

Jack Grealish looked to skip beyond Lucas Ocampos earlier in the showdown but was brought down, resulting in a free-kick

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify

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