WATCH: ‘He grew up, huh?’ - Pep Guardiola left stunned after realising he met Man City starlet Micah Hamilton as a ball boy six years ago in touching moment

In a surprising turn of events, Hamilton, who scored in his first senior appearance against Red Star Belgrade, was revealed to have been a ballboy for the club back in 2017. Guardiola was pleasantly surprised upon learning this fact after the game and was amazed to know that he even lent instructions to the ballboy, in order to help increase the intensity of the match in question. The Spanish manager heaped praise on him for his explosive debut where he scored a fantastic goal and won a penalty for his team.

Speaking to reporters, he said: "I didn't know! Six years ago? He grew up, huh? Wow, what a goal! What a game. I'm so happy for him. He's training quite often with us, we saw his skills up front one against one and he made a fantastic goal and penalty, and when he could not be one against one he gave extra passes. Defensively he was aggressive. Congratulations to the academy over the last [few] years."

The victory against Red Star Belgrade secured City's flawless record in the group stage with six wins from six games. Additionally, youngsters Oscar Bobb and Kalvin Phillips contributed to the scoresheet. Guardiola explained the surprise choice of Phillips for the penalty, highlighting the midfielder's impressive shooting ability and the desire to boost his confidence.

"He's an incredibly good taker. I know Phil (Foden) had ambitions to do it but Kalvin is an incredible penalty taker," he said. "The game was not over and for his confidence, it was a difficult game because they made man to man so aggressive, a lot of interruptions and so many fouls. It was not easy to play comfortably but in the right moments we found our quality."

The story of Micah Hamilton's journey from a ballboy to a standout player exemplifies the talent and progression within City's ranks. The youngster will hope that he gets more opportunities to play for the senior team after his impressive showing in the Champions League contest. They will return to action against Crystal Palace on Saturday in the Premier League.