So it became a relaxed City trip to Lisbon for Pep Guardiola and co. Even though away goals no longer count double, the English champions are already certain of a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Sporting was crushed with ease. It was 0-5 as the Man City machine proved deadly in front of goal. Thanks to a good De Bruyne, but above all a great Bernardo Silva.
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Anyone who saw Pep Guardiola raging on the sidelines midway through the first half must have thought his side was suffering. The opposite turned out to be true. Manchester City played their way to a 0-2 lead in no time, almost on stocking feet. Motivated by their coach, it was even 0-4 at half time. Mahrez opened the score, after a vintage City attack. Draft, short combination, Foden on the goalkeeper, a ready-looking De Bruyne who put the ball back on the Algerian: 0-1. Just two times offside. After a minute and a half, the VAR had also established that – not only in Belgium it sometimes takes a long time. After about fifteen minutes, Bernardo Silva struck out in one go on a hidden corner. A very hard wattle, through the bar: 0-2. Sporting coach Ruben Amorim (37), the next big thing in Portuguese trainer country, blinked.
Until then Sporting was doing well, which is perhaps why Guardiola made himself so fat. The team that kept Dortmund out of the 1/8th finals played along. Via the flanks, with vertical play, the Portuguese champion came close to Ederson, without creating great opportunities.
Until City again extended further and Sporting completely cracked. Mahrez crossed, Matheus and Coates missed their interception rather clumsily, Foden was allowed to push in the 0-3. When Sterling went deep and put back, Bernardo Silva even made it 0-4, a deflected shot. Painful for the home crowd, also because he is a purebred product of rival Benfica. At 27, has the Portuguese ever played better for City than this season? Immediately after the break, he even headed in his third, on a cross from De Bruyne. The goal was rightly disallowed for narrow offside.
A small child knew that Sporting would not be able to do anything against City. Lost in early December The Citizens their his last game against Leipzig, but by then it had already been placed. It has won eighteen of its last twenty matches. It scored 56 goals in it.
The floodgates also opened in Lisbon, mainly because City turned out to be hyper-efficient. Almost every ball went in. For the 0-5 it was Sterling’s turn. He cut in and curled the ball wonderfully into the square. City equaled his record for the biggest away win in Europe. This looked like a preliminary round. Because despite the beautiful goals it was never really exciting. The second half was completely unnecessary. Guardiola was even able to bring in Liam Delap, Rory Delap’s 19-year-old son, for his long throws once known as the human catapult. Anyway, you notice, there was not much to report.
And DeBruyne? Due to some bad luck, he ‘only’ got an assist to his name, although he again scattered with passes, created wonderful openings and tried to shoot from far a few times. Oh well, in the next round he can take a day off.
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