The nine-goal thriller at the Etihad had many twists and turns over the course of the 90 minutes, with City once again showing their attacking prowess.
Despite City’s excellence going forward, Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku proved a handful for the visitors, netting a brilliant hat-trick to keep the game alive.
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“You never have the feeling it’s over,” said Guardiola, who was taking charge of City for the 300th time. “They have a young team, so aggressive, so strong. A fantastic team. Leipzig give a good message to football. The quality of the players was better today and that’s why we won.
“Leipzig never give up. They have a special way to attack. They play all or nothing. We scored a few minutes after they scored [a few times] and it helped us a lot.”
Jack Grealish also put in an excellent performance on his Champions League debut, providing the assist for Nathan Ake’s header that opened the scoring, followed by an excellent curling effort from outside the box for City’s fourth of the match.
“I loved it,” said the 26-year-old. “I’ve been waiting a while. The past few weeks, I couldn’t wait for this game. It’s a great night.”
Describing his goal, Grealish said: “The ball came to me and when I’m in that position, running into the area, I’d back myself one-on-one against anyone to have a go and it paid off. I had a few in the first half that were blocked.”
The £100m signing also noted the surprise result in the other game in Group A between Club Brugge and PSG, which ended in a 1-1 draw. “I went to check the result from the other game and it shows anything can happen in the Champions League. It’s why it’s such a wonderful competition.”
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