Joao Cancelo stays composed on full home Manchester City debut after surviving early red card scare 

If Kyle Walker resembles a power-packed sprinter when he charges forward, Joao Cancelo glides up the pitch like an 800 metres runner.

Apart from one misjudgement that saw Cancelo catch Dani Olmo in the face with high boot, Manchester City’s new £60million right-back was calmness personified on his first start at The Etihad. His use of the ball marks him down as a natural fit for this Pep Guardiola team.

Cancelo has had a quiet start to his City career following a summer move from Juventus that saw Danilo move in the opposite direction in part-exchange.

His only previous start had come in the League Cup at Preston so this appearance in the Champions League – where he reached the knockout stages with Juve last season – was a step up, even if Dinamo aren’t among Europe’s elite.

The first thing to notice about the 25-year-old Portuguese international was his laid-back demeanour.

In the first-half, he was stationed right in front of Guardiola whose finger-jabbing positional advice from the technical area may have put off other new signings. Cancelo barely seemed to notice, not in a rude way, just unflustered.

He exchanged conversations with Fernandinho throughout the evening to make sure the City back-line was together, and it was.

The Portuguese defender was fortunate to avoid a red card for a high tackle on Dani Olmo

The one scare came when Olmo nodded the ball past him on the counter after 19 minutes and a stretching Cancelo caught him in the face, bringing blood to the Zagreb winger.

Cancelo was quick to apologise, even as he was getting booked, and when Olmo returned a couple of minutes later bandaged up, he went across to shake his hand again.

It didn’t smack of a player panicking because of a slight error and he looked composed for the remaining 72 minutes despite being on a yellow, and perhaps fortunate not to get a red by the letter of the law.

City dominated the game as expected and missed a host of chances through Sergio Aguero, Ilkay Gundogan and David Silva before Raheem Sterling came off the bench to break the deadlock in the second half.

Cancelo wouldn’t beat Walker in a foot race – ‘we have different skills,’ he stressed on arriving at City – and he didn’t go gung-ho on the overlap, aware that Dinamo had threats on the break, most notably Olmo who is Spanish and was recruited from the Barcelona academy.

Still, the right-back was an important part of City’s attacking options, and he’s by no means a slouch. He is also good on distribution, it comes more naturally than it does to Walker, and a crossfield ball to Benjamin Mendy to open up a different angle of attack brought applause from the crowd.

His final ball in this particular game was mixed, his best chance to cross was delivered into the midriff of the visitor’s goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, but he grew in confidence throughout the evening and one piece of ball-carrying to the edge of the Zagreb area was a glimpse of things to come. After City led and a few gaps appeared in the visitor’s defence, he clipped a cross onto Aguero’s head that forced the ‘keeper into a save.

He also built a good understanding with Gundogan on the right-hand side, their interchanging of passes given Zagreb’s defenders something to think about.

Fiercer tests will come against teams who try to hurt City, particularly away from home. But in terms of finesse and match intelligence, Cancelo looks as much a thoroughbred as you’d expect from someone who has played with Cristiano Ronaldo for club and country.

Kyle Walker has real competition on his hands and, given Cancelo can play left-back as well at a squeeze, Guardiola has another defensive asset who is the right age to develp at The Etihad for the length of his six-year contract.