Micah Hamilton overcame Man City struggle to make shock debut vs Crvena Zvezda

Manchester City's latest academy star will take the jelly legs and sleepless night Pep Guardiola gave him over the pain of a year ago

When Micah Hamilton smashed into the roof of the net on his Manchester City debut, the ballboy story became even more impossible to ignore.

Making the step from restarting games from the sidelines to winning games on the pitch is the sort of script that producers would jump at, and the fact that Hamilton had been involved in a significant exchange with Pep Guardiola six years ago also added to the narrative. City's manager could not remember the incident - little wonder given everything that must have gone through his head in the time since - but being presented with the picture even drew a wow from him.

For the 20-year-old making all the headlines though, another moment was in his head. His start in Belgrade came a year after he was having injections in his ankle to try and bring his injury hell to an end.

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All in all, issues with his ankle robbed Hamilton of about 18 months of his blossoming career and it cannot be underestimated how difficult that can be to overcome. Coming through a top academy requires such mental steel on top of the outstanding footballing ability, and as if injury isn't debilitating enough for someone they also have to watch and be happy for the teammates that get the breaks in that time that could have gone to them.

Hamilton has shown commendable patience to keep his head and his game throughout, and his performances as Under-21s captain this season had earned calls to the bench against Newcastle and Young Boys before the decision that would momentarily wipe the strength from his legs. For all the thanks Hamilton has for Guardiola, he can't have been happy with an unexpected sleepless night.

"I wasn't expecting it at all to be honest. I walked into the meeting room yesterday and Pep was going through the team and he said my name on the right wing," he said.

"I was in shock, with jelly legs. It was all mad. I couldn't even sleep last night just taking everything in.

"I went onto the pitch today and thought I need to play without fear. I eased into it in the first 10 minutes and then took my opportunity when it came.

"What's mad is that a year ago today I was getting injections in my ankle and now I've scored on my debut for the first team. It's crazy."

Hamilton's performance was a vindication of the academy's ability to develop talent and Guardiola's nous for picking it at the right moment, yet credit must go to the player for a fearless display that brought a goal and a penalty in a performance that shows he can belong in the best teams and biggest competitions. City's manager places great stock in that boldness and conviction of players coming through, as Phil Foden, Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer have also shown.

While his family could not be there, Hamilton was sure to tell them all when he knew he was starting and was getting good luck messages from cousins before the match. The Crumpsall youngster will surely attract attention for a loan next month but is planning to stay at the Etihad; if he can keep up this level of performance, he won't need any luck to do that.

"Everyone made me comfortable. The main message was to enjoy it and make an impact. I enjoyed every moment of it," he said.

"I just want to push on and try to get more minutes, working day to day in training with my head down and hopefully the opportunities will come."