The winger’s 19th minute strike against Red Star on Wednesday evening made him the youngest City player to score on Champions League debut in our history.
Receiving the ball out on the right from Matheus Nunes, the 20-year-old drove around his opponent and fired a shot into the roof of the net.
Red Star 2-3 City | Match gallery
It was an emphatic statement so early into his career at the top level and he duly celebrated, quickly embraced by fellow Academy graduates Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb, who later scored an excellent goal of his own, in the corner.
“That’s an amazing moment,” said Onuoha on our Matchday Live show at half-time.
“He was on the bench against Young Boys. Now he’s persisted starting in Belgrade in a tough game.
“He isolated the defender with a great turn of feet. Feigns him twice. Great goal and moment.
“Knee-slide and a moment he’ll never forget, Hopefully the start of more to come.”
Wright-Phillips made a career out of scoring similar strikes after dribbling beyond defenders and was delighted to see a new face score a goal that would have made him proud.
“He’s been hanging out there waiting for the ball and made all the right decisions,” he stated.
“He did the first shimmy and the defender stayed with him he did it again and let fire. That’s all you’ve got to do as an attacking player is work the keeper. He has what he deserves in the game.”
Former City and England goalkeeper David James, however, was often on the other end of strikes such as those.
He knew just how difficult Hamilton’s hit was to save.
“He smashed it past the keeper,” said James.
“The ball was hit that hard and you end up diving after the ball has gone past. It was a wonderful moment.
“The City side do things so naturally you understand why Pep puts them in there. Superb.”
Matchday Live
Matchday Live is our free show for every single men’s match throughout the season!
Our hosts are joined by a number of City legends and current players to build up to matches and then analyse them at half-time and following the final whistle.
During the game it’s the place to be as you get live radio commentary from Alistair Mann as well as text coverage from one of our in-house journalists.
Matchday Live will return on Saturday afternoon ahead of our Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace.
