Pep Guardiola salutes Manchester City saviour Savinho

Pep Guardiola praised substitute Savinho for providing the spark to rescue Manchester City's Champions League campaign after they overturned a first-half deficit to beat Club Brugge 3-1.

For a time, City looked set to miss out on the knockout stages for the first time since 2012-13 after conceding to Raphael Onyedika in their must-win league phase encounter at the Etihad Stadium.

They hit back to snatch a place in the play-off round – and book a date with Real Madrid or Bayern Munich – after the introduction of Savinho at the interval changed the tempo of the game.

The Brazilian himself capped the fightback with City’s third goal after Mateo Kovacic had equalised and Joel Ordonez turned into his own net.

The drama played out after the night had begun with an area close to the stadium’s main reception being evacuated when a fire broke out in a merchandise stall.

City manager Guardiola said: "After I saw the fire before the game, in half-time, I thought the journalists have their headline already, that’s for sure. We had lost. We were out.

"But when you are out, that’s when you play, you have nothing to lose.

"In the first half, we missed the spark. I think Savinho helped us. Like all season, when he’s played there, he was unbelievable. He changed the game."

City had been 25th in the standings after a lacklustre campaign in which the team have been dogged by injuries and poor performances.

Form in the Premier League has also been inconsistent and Guardiola conceded his team, who climbed to 22nd, were not currently playing well enough to win the Champions League.

Asked if he thought they could emulate their 2023 success, he said: "Right now? No. If we had to play tomorrow it would be difficult, but in two weeks I don’t know the