Who is Micah Hamilton? From Man City ball boy to scoring on debut

The 20-year-old academy graduate was handed his first start in the club's final Champions League group stage match against Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday, making an immediate impact.

The England youth international - starting on the right wing - expertly broke the deadlock with a sumptuous strike in the 19th minute after being played in down the right channel by Matheus Nunes.

Hamilton then dropped a shoulder to beat his man before arrowing in an effort into the roof of the net from a tight angle.

And he almost came close to grabbing a fine assist just before the break, but Oscar Bobb was unable to get on the end of his low cross. Bobb put City 2-0 up on 62 minutes with a fine solo effort.

It was an incredible 45 minutes for the youngster, who joined City's academy at the age of nine.

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And he then won City a penalty late on, which was converted by Kalvin Phillips, as the visitors won 3-2 to ensure maximum points in Group G.

Capable of playing on either flank or down the middle, Hamilton could very well be the next star name to come out of the club's academy.

Hamilton has passed with flying colours at every age level for City, where he chipped in with 11 goals and eight assists for the Under-18s in the 2020/21 season.

The following campaign he helped the Citizens win a second successive Premier League 2 title.

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And in an injury-hit season last term, he still managed three goals as City won another youth championship.

Prior to making his senior debut, Hamilton had provided six assists in 11 outings in all competitions for City's Elite Development Squad, where he is their captain.

A City ball boy even earlier in his youth, Pep Guardiola once spoke to a young Hamilton during his side's win over Crystal Palace in September 2017.

Not happy with City's speed of play, Guardiola could be seen speaking to Hamilton to encourage him to throw the ball back in quickly.

Revealing what he said to Hamilton at the time, the Spaniard said: "If there was a foul, no-one went to take the ball and start to play.

"There was five, ten seconds before someone goes to take the ball and start to play. When this happens everything is slow.

"So the ball boys were slow, everybody was slow. And we have to create in the game, to provoke the game. And we didn't for most of the time in the first half."

"In the second half, you could see immediately that the team was ready."