"Gonna be some player by 23", "Took us through to the knockouts" - Fans hail Manchester City star for impact in win over Brugge

Fans online hailed Manchester City star Savinho for his impact in the Sky Blues' 3-1 win over Club Brugge in the final group-stage game of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday (January 29). The Cityzens needed a win to advance to the next stage, and the Brazilian forward did well to see his side through.

Savinho spent 45 minutes on the pitch and recorded a passing accuracy of 95% (20/21) while making two successful dribbles.

Following the match, fans took to social media to laud the Brazilian for his performance, with one post saying:

"He genuinely didn’t start Savinho in a must win game in 2025."

Another post read:

"Savinho Appreciation Tweet. Changed the game as soon as he stepped foot on the pitch."

Another post said:

"Savinho go straight to Pep and tell him straight to his face to never bench you again."

Another post read:

"Savinho is ace isn't he. Gonna be some player by 23."

Another fan wrote:

"Savinho came on and turned the game on its head. What a player."

Another post said:

"20 year old Savinho has essentially took us through to the knockouts. Complete night and day from first half to second."

The final post of our selection read:

"Pep benching Savinho when he was in the middle of his best run of form was kind of confusing to begin with."

Manchester City ended the group stage in 22nd place out of 36 teams with 11 points in eight games. They won three, drew two, and lost three games while scoring 18 and conceding 14 in an uncharacteristically poor run.

---

Bayern Munich manager excited to potentially face Manchester City in the next round of the Champions League

Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany is excited about the possibility of facing Manchester City in the next round of the UEFA Champions League. The Belgian spent most of his playing career representing the Cityzens.

Speaking about the possibility of facing his former side after they beat Club Brugge 3-1 at home and his side beat Slovan Bratislava 3-1 to see both sides progress to the next round, Kompany said (via FotMob):

"Now we have to restore this energy to be hot for those games. Now City, as well as Celtic, enter these knock-out matches with a good feeling, and we need to have that as well."

"We have to build our energy. We have to switch to the mentality of looking forward to these big games. You get to the stage of a competition where you expect big games," he added.

Kompany spent 11 years at Manchester City after joining from Hamburg for a reported €8.5 million fee in the summer of 2008. He represented the club 360 times and helped them to four Premier League, four League Cup, and two FA Cup titles.