Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku netted late goals as Manchester City secured a well-deserved 3-1 victory over RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

City beat Leipzig in the competition for the third year in a row. Phil Foden scored the first goal after Rico Lewis, a teenage wing-back, set him up with some great play.

Leipzig was clearly outclassed in the first half, but they came back right after halftime to tie the game. Lois Openda scored after a long counterattack to tie the game.

But because Leipzig was focusing on City’s star player Erling Haaland, who scored five goals in 60 minutes the last time these two teams played, it was Haaland’s backup who scored the key goal, curling in City’s second goal just five minutes after coming on.

Doku sealed the win with a goal in injury time.

City forward Foden praised Alvarez’s “magical” goal, telling TNT sports “he’s someone we look to for the big goals.”

“He came on and changed the game. He’s a really important player for us.”

City boss Pep Guardiola praised his “perfect” side, saying “we took the game with a lot of passes and when a team is able to do this, very nice things are going to happen to you.”

“We played a fantastic game in all departments.”

City had lost two games in a row, which hadn’t happened since January.

Guardiola said at the press conference after the game that the win put the recent problems his team has been having “in perspective.”

“People say ‘oh, you lost a game, what happened?’ but you need to put it in perspective, after what we’ve won in the last years, we’re still here and we have got this passion.”

Leipzig manager Marco Rose called the result “a deserved win for City, even if we would have wished to defend that 1-1 until the end.”

“We’ll continue to learn from the best.”

In the first half of their 2-2 draw with German champions Bayern Munich on Saturday, Leipzig were aggressive, but when City gave them the ball, they lost it over and over again.

Foden and Lewis were a nightmare for Leipzig on the right side, and they set up the first goal together after 25 minutes.

Lewis passed the ball to an approaching Bernardo Silva, who passed it back to Lewis so that the 18-year-old could find Foden. Foden hammered his shot into the grass, and the ball went over custodian Janis Blaswich and into the goal.

City showed their skill by breaking through the Leipzig defence, which was standing still. Haaland came close twice while moving forward from the left side to end the half.

At halftime, Rose didn’t make any changes to his team, which was struggling, but Leipzig came out as a different team and tied the game just three minutes after the break.

Yussuf Poulsen threaded a pass to a running Openda, who held City’s Manuel Akanji back with one arm while squeezing his shot in off the post. A frustrated Guardiola kicked the ground and cupped his hands around his face.

Leipzig was happy to sit back and counter, and City was happy to keep the ball. Foden seemed to be the most likely to score, and his free kick that hit the crossbar almost fooled Blaswich.

Foden was replaced by Alvarez with 11 minutes left, and the Argentine World Cup winner was key. He took a pass from another substitute, Doku, and fired a shot that hit the top corner to win the game.

Doku scored his own goal as time ran out, finishing off a counterattack by City to give the visitors the win.

The win was City’s first in Saxony; in the two previous Champions League seasons, they had drawn and lost when they went to Leipzig.