Pep Guardiola had NO IDEA he first met academy starlet Micah Hamilton as a Man City ballboy as he heralds the debutant’s ‘fantastic goal’ in Red Star Belgrade win

• Guardiola’s side beat the hosts 3-2 to maintain their perfect qualifying record
• Hamilton’s explosive debut saw him score and win the penalty for Kalvin Phillips  
• Man United are stuffed if captain Bruno Fernandes says he thought Bournemouth would be easy – It’s All Kicking Off 

Pep Guardiola was left shocked after learning Manchester City debutant Micah Hamilton was a ballboy for the club in 2017.

Hamilton scored in what was his first senior appearance as City beat Red Star Belgrade 3-2 to finish the Group stage with six wins from six games.

After the game, Guardiola was shown a photo of himself and Hamilton dating back to 2017, when the youngster was a ballboy at the Etihad stadium.

Hamilton was one of the ball boys that Guardiola instructed to help lift his team’s intensity by ensuring games re-started quicker, but the manager did not seem to remember the youngster’s beginnings.

‘I didn’t know! Six years ago? Wow!’ Guardiola said as he looked at the image.

Micah Hamilton (left) scored upon his Man City debut after getting the nod from Pep Guardiola

But Guardiola was unaware that he had previously called upon Hamilton’s services whilst he was a ballboy in 2017

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‘What a goal, eh! And what a game. I’m so happy for him.

‘He’s training quite often with us, we saw his skills up front 1vs1 and he made a fantastic goal and penalty and when he could not be 1vs1 he gave extra passes. Defensively he was aggressive.’

Fellow youngster Oscar Bobb was also on the scoresheet while Kalvin Phillips netted a penalty to convert his first goal for City after a difficult two years.

There was some surprise at Phillips being given the ball for the spot-kick, but Guardiola revealed that the midfielder has impressed with his shooting ability and that he wanted to improve his confidence.

‘He’s an incredibly good taker. I know Phil (Foden) had ambitions to do it but Kalvin is an incredible penalty taker.

The 20-year-old lashed in an inch-perfect strike just inside his debut 20 minutes for Man City

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Kalvin Phillips also scored his first Man City goal from the penalty spot after his rare start

‘The game was not over and for his confidence, it was a difficult game because they made man to man so aggressive, a lot of interruptions and so many fouls.

‘It was not easy to play comfortably but in the right moments we found our quality.’

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