Kevin de Bruyne was on hand to gift a stoppage-time winner to a somewhat lucky Manchester City side as they edged Sevilla by two goals to one in gameweek 3 of the Champions League.
City far from perfect
Despite the victory itself, this was far from City's ideal night. Ukranian forward Yevhen Konoplyanka put the visitors ahead on the half-hour mark from 12 yards - as the Citizens were left exposed from a dangerous cross, allowing the exciting winger to slot home from close-range.
Fortunately though, Manuel Pellegrini's side didn't have to wait long for a reply. Yaya Touré produced a teasing cross of his own into the path of Raheem Sterling, whose effort tested goalkeeper Sergio Rico initially before the follow-up from Wilfried Bony was converted via a deflection off defender Adil Rami into his own goal.
Two goals in quick succession
After a very competent showing from Sevilla in the first-half, a golden opportunity to retake the lead came ten minutes after the restart when French striker Kevin Gameiro rose unmarked in the six-yard box, but his resulting header flashed over the crossbar despite the chance begging for him to convert and give Unai Emery's men the lead once more.
Again City's defensive frailties were exposed - as Los Rojiblancos continued to look sharp on the break and with Sergio Agüero and David Silva absent, City were struggling to unlock Sevilla's defence with opportunities few and far between. As the clock wound down the game became more and more stretched, crying out for one piece of individual brilliance that could eventually settle matters and when it finally came, there was no surprise that it stemmed from the cultured left foot of de Bruyne.
Being played through in the area after a pass from Touré, he was composed and cool on the ball, taking a touch to shift past his marker inside the box before curling his effort neatly as it nestled into the bottom corner of the net within a flash - sending the home supporters into sheer delight in the process.
Sevilla unlucky not to grab a point at least
There was just enough time for Sevilla to give the sky Blues one last scare in the time that remained, but the hosts defended extremely well to secure yet another last-ditch victory, which makes the group stage table look far healthier than it did a few weeks ago - from a City perspective, ofcourse.
City must now travel to Seville, to face the Rojiblancos once more who will be hurting and out for vengeance after this very narrow defeat, in a night that saw City on the back foot for most of the night and Kevin de Bruyne unsurprisingly turning up when his presence was needed most.