Manchester City have kept their Champions League hopes well on track thanks to Kevin De Bruyne's late winner in a 2-1 victory over Sevilla this evening.
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The first real opening of the contest came 10 minutes in, when De Bruyne picked out attacking teammate Wilfried Bony to shoot right down the throat of Rico in the opposition goal.
De Bruyne himself came close to making a breakthrough moments later after a quick counter allowed the Belgian to cut in from the left and fire one narrowly wide of the target.
Sevilla slowly managed to grow into the game, and they came within the width of the post of taking the lead as Yevhen Konoplyanka's free kick got the better of Joe Hart but had just a little too much on it to creep in.
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An end-to-end period followed, with Vicente Iborra and Jesus Navas almost getting on the end of decent chances inside the box, while Yaya Toure also saw his deflected effort fly just over the bar.
The opening goal of the match did arrive shortly after the half-hour mark, however, as Vitolo picked out Konoplyanka to bend the ball beyond the reach of Hart into the bottom corner, with the Citizens' offside shouts quickly waved away.
City did not have to wait too long for a response, thanks to Toure reaching the byline and cutting the ball back into a central position for Raheem Sterling to take the shot on and, while Rico did manage to keep the initial attempt out, Wilfried Bony was on hand to convert the rebound with the help of a deflection.
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Konoplyanka then squandered a chance to edge his side back ahead right before half time, with Nicolas Otamendi doing well to get in the way of the winger's shot.
Sevilla settled well in the early stages of the second period, coming close to regaining their advantage once again after some good work by Benoit Tremoulinas to pick out Kevin Gameiro, who somehow failed to find the target with his header.
Tremoulinas was proving to be a real threat from his full-back position, sending in another cross which ended with Gameiro giving City another scare as his shot crept wide.
The Premier League leaders were desperate for a goal themselves, however, and De Bruyne looked a good bet to find it when peeling away from his man and getting in a shot that was blocked aside.
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With City pushing men forward, gaps began opening up at the back which Michael Krohn-Dehli came close to exposing, as City found themselves continually frustrated in the closing stages.
Yet with seconds left to play at the Etihad Manuel Pellegrini's charges had a late goal to show for their efforts, thanks to De Bruyne's curled effort past Rico to make it two wins from three in Europe.
That lifts City into second place, three points ahead of their opponents and just one off leaders Juventus after three games.
Daniel Lewis
