Lisbon, Feb 16 (BUS): Manchester City performed so well in the Champions League on Tuesday that the fans of their opponents could not help but applaud.
When Phil Foden netted the third of City’s four goals in the first half in a 5-0 win over Sporting in the Round of 16, fans weren’t just far away showing their appreciation inside Jose Alvalade Stadium, The Associated Press reports.
Some fans were also seen on their pitch applauding in appreciation of one of the most dominant performances ever at this stage of Europe’s top club competition.
The humiliation was helped by four players who once played for Sporting’s fierce Lisbon opponent, Benfica. One of them was Bernardo Silva, who scored two goals – the first of which was a shocking hemisphere that hit the underside of the crossbar.
Riyad Mahrez started the demolition in the seventh minute with a close-range shot that was not paid until after a long video review.
Silva then scored in the 17th and 44th minutes – either side of Foden’s goal worked well in the 32nd minute – as City went into the first half with a 4-0 lead.
Raheem Sterling netted a superb fifth goal in the 58th minute and Pep Guardiola’s side could start planning for the quarter-finals, even with the second leg still in three weeks’ time.
Not that City manager Pep Guardiola, who was as close to perfect as in world football, was indulged in it.
“The players know me – they know the way we work. They can do better,” Guardiola said. “I’m very happy, don’t misunderstand me, but we can do better.”
What delighted Guardiola was City’s efficiency in front of goal, something his players are often criticized for.
“Today we were very clinical,” he said. “Every time we got there in the first 30 minutes, we scored a goal. The difference between the two teams is not 0-5, but we finished well.”
For Sporting and its fans, that sinking feeling was once again in the Round of 16 – the club had not been around since the 2008-09 season.
On that occasion, the Portuguese team was embarrassed 12-1 on aggregate against Bayern Munich after losing 5-0 at home and 7-1 away.
City’s defeat must have been the same.
For the English club, there are tougher tests coming in the Champions League, but these kinds of performances make them the favorites to win the title for the first time.
It was City’s ninth consecutive appearance in the playoffs, and the team arrived after an impressive streak of performances that saw only one loss in their last 20 games in all competitions.
The mismatch was evident from the moment Mahrez hit the ball with his right foot after Antonio Adan slapped Foden’s shot. The ball landed in Kevin De Bruyne’s hand and he shot Mahrez to the finish, but the VAR only check if De Bruyne was offside when Foden took his shot wide.
Not so.
The second goal was the highlight of the match, as Bernardo showed the audacity on a half-volley shot after Rodri headed home from a deep Mahrez corner. Somehow, the Portuguese playmaker put his foot over the ball and drove it hard off the bar.
And when Foden quietly converted Mahrez’s right cross, drawing applause from both teams, it was already a case of damage limiting for Sporting.
Bernardo’s second shot veered past the wrong foot of Adán and the midfielder was only given a hat-trick by VAR, who discovered he was offside a bit before heading in a De Bruyne cross three minutes into the second half.
It was a short respite for Sporting as Sterling, who scored a hat-trick against Norwich in the Premier League on Saturday, cut in from the left and curled a curling ball into the top corner for what proved to be the final goal for a one-side game.
Sporting fans stood and wrapped their scarves in the last minutes in an impassioned display of support for their team, which was at the end of a clinic by City.
The worrying thing for the Portuguese team is that there are still 90 minutes left for further potential embarrassment at the hands of Guardiola’s side.
“There is still work to do in Manchester,” Bernardo said. “We can’t relax.”