Hamilton, a skilful winger who has progressed through our age groups with great distinction since joining City as an Under-9, makes his senior debut this evening in the final Group G game here at the Rajko Mitic Stadium.
The 20-year-old has been on the bench for two previous first team games – the Carabao Cup match with Newcastle in September and the Champions League encounter away at Young Boys in October.
But this will be his first taste of action out on the pitch under Pep Guardiola.
Only Jack Grealish and Mateo Kovacic remain in the side from the last game against Luton Town.
Erling Haaland, Ederson, Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne all didn’t make the trip and are absent today.
TEAMS
RED STAR XI: Glazer, Nedeljkovic, Djiga, Spajic, Dragovic, Kanga, Mijailovic, Hwang In-beom, Bukari, Ndiaye, Olayinka
Subs: Degenek, Stamenic, Katai, Krasso, Milunovic, Kangwa, Mijatovic, Rodic, Vasiljevic, Lucic, Kabic, Mitrovic
CITY XI: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Stones (c), Akanji, Gomez, Phillips, Kovacic, Nunes, Bobb, Grealish, Hamilton
Subs: Carson, Grant, Walker, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, Alvarez, Bernardo, Gvardiol, Foden, Alleyne, Susoho
TACTICS
The manager spoke in his press conference on the eve of the game of his excitement at being able to select and watch some of the players who’ve not featured as much of late.
And that’s exactly what’s occurring tonight as we analyse his first XI.
Stefan Ortega Moreno will be between the posts and supported by a four-man defence of Rico Lewis, John Stones – who captains the side – Manuel Akanji and Sergio Gomez.
Kalvin Phillips, Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes start in midfield, with Oscar Bobb, Jack Grealish and Micah Hamilton in attack.
YOUNG BLUES PRIMED
It’s a fabulous sight to see so many Young Blues in the squad for tonight’s Red Star game.
We’ve got Micah Hamilton starting with a trio of 18-year-olds - Max Alleyne (pictured), Mahamadou Susoho and True Grant - all on the bench and primed to make their senior debuts.
Alleyne is a composed central defender signed for City in October 2021 from Southampton’s Academy. He is comfortable playing off either foot with his assured style of play meaning he can also be deployed in defensive midfield.
Spanish born Susoho is a tenacious defensive midfielder with an eye for a pass.
Grant is a goalkeeper with a calming presence in the penalty area and he’s comfortable with the ball at his feet.
MATCH STATS
-Red Star Belgrade lost their only previous European meeting with Man City on MD1 of this season’s UEFA Champions League. They have lost their last three games against English teams in the competition.
- English teams have won three of their last four major European visits to Red Star, with Bolton winning in 2007 (UEFA Cup), Arsenal in 2017 (Europa League) and Spurs in 2019 (Champions League). The exception was Liverpool, who lost 2-0 in November 2018 in a Champions League group stage game.
-Red Star lost their last home UEFA Champions League match 2-1 against RB Leipzig. The Serbian side haven’t lost consecutive home major European matches since 4-0 and 6-0 defeats to Tottenham and Bayern Munich respectively in November 2019.
- City have won 100% of our UEFA Champions League games so far this season. The only English team ever to win all six group games in a season were Liverpool in 2021/22. City have won our last seven games in the competition (inc. two in 2022/23), and a win against Red Star would be a record for consecutive wins by an English team in European Cup/Champions League history.
-Red Star have shipped 49 goals in 17 UEFA Champions League matches, an average of 2.9 per game. The current fastest a team has conceded 50 goals is 18 games, set by Swedish side Malmö FF. By comparison, the last 49 goals City have conceded in the competition have come over a period of 60 matches.
- City are looking to win our three away UEFA Champions League group stage games for the second time, doing so in 2013/14. The last two English teams to achieve this feat then reached the final – Chelsea in 2020/21 (winners) and Liverpool in 2021/22 (losing finalists).
- City are unbeaten in our last 18 UEFA Champions League matches (W13 D5), winning the last seven in a row. If we go unbeaten in this game, it would be the joint second longest run of games without defeat in the competition, with Ajax (19 between 1994 and 1996) and Bayern Munich (two runs of 19 between 2001 and 2002 & 2019 and 2021) having 19-game runs. The record is 25 games set by city rivals Man Utd between 2007 and 2009.
- City have broken the opposition’s defensive line with a pass (73) more often than any other side in the UEFA Champions League this season. Indeed, we’ve made more line-breaking passes that have led to goals (14) of any team in the group stage this term.
- City midfielder Rodri has made more line-breaking passes than any other player in the UEFA Champions League this season (100), as well as the most specifically in the opposition half (64).
