Manchester City's Micah Hamilton and Oscar Bobb scored in a 3-2 win, securing top spot in Group G flawlessly.
Manchester City have joined Liverpool as the only other English team to ever win all six Champions League group games in a season on a defining night for the club’s academy in Serbia.
Manchester-born academy product, Micah Hamilton, who joined the club aged nine, was handed his first-team debut as one of nine changes to the Pep-Roulette system and opened the scoring with a powerful effort that crashed into the roof of the net before Bobb, who was on his first Manchester City start, netted the second with a clinical finish.
The spirited Red Star hit back through substitute In-Beom Hwang but Hamilton won a late penalty which was converted by Kalvin Phillips for his first ever goal for the club.
City may have cruised through the group but they were made to work for their victory, Aleksandar Katai heading in from a corner to keep the Serbian SuperLiga side in the fixture until the end.
Micah Hamilton had taken instructions from Guardiola long before breaking into the City first team. Back in 2017, he was a ballboy at the Etihad and, as seen in a video circulating social media, he was being spoken to by the City boss, who wanted the future winger to retrieve the ball quicker to help the team maintain a high tempo.
Pep Guardiola giving instruction to a 14-year-old Micah Hamilton during a game in September 2017
Six years later, Hamilton was delivering on the pitch. He raced into the area and beat Red Star captain Aleksandar Dragovic with a shimmy before crashing a shot high into the net.Â
Micah Hamilton then nearly teed up Bobb for his first goal when he fired a dangerous low ball in from the right but the latter could not make contact at the far post.
The 20-year-old went close again early in the second half when he curled a low effort just wide but City needed Stefan Ortega to keep them level as he made two good saves in quick succession to keep out Cherif Ndiaye and Guelor Kanga.
Bobb then took centre stage as he doubled City’s lead just after the hour. having picked up possession from Rico Lewis, another highly impressive academy graduate, and opted against the return pass, instead wrong-footing the defenders with a weaving run and sliding a low finish inside the left post.
Red Star rallied just after and Jovan Mijatovic hit a post, Hwang beat Ortega with a low strike to reduce the deficit after linking up with Osman Bukari moments after City introduced 18-year-old Mahamadou Susoho for his debut since joining the club’s academy in 2017.
In the final moments of the game, Kalvin Phillips converted from the spot after Hamilton was brought down by Nasser Djiga and that proved decisive as Katai headed a second Red Star goal in stoppage time.
