Manchester City are on course for the Champions League quarter-finals after Bernardo Silva’s brace inspired a masterful 5-0 rout of Sporting Lisbon in the last 16 first leg on Tuesday.
Pep Guardiola’s side produced a swaggering display at the Jose Alvalade Stadium to kill off Sporting before the second leg in Manchester on March 9.
Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring and Silva bagged the second before Phil Foden made it three by the 32nd minute.
With City at their imperious best, Portugal forward Silva struck again on his return to his homeland and Raheem Sterling’s gem rounded off the demolition after the interval.
City are unbeaten in their last 13 games in all competition, a hot streak that now includes 12 wins.
Sterner tests will await City later in the competition but this was a significant statement of intent that would have been heard all around Europe.
With City nine points clear at the top of the Premier League in their pursuit of a fourth title in five years, there is no questioning Guardiola’s domestic preeminence.
On the same night, Kylian Mbappe struck in the fourth minute of injury time to give Paris Saint-Germain a precious 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the first leg of their heavyweight Champions League last-16 tie.
It looked as though Real would escape with a draw after weathering a first-half onslaught from PSG before Lionel Messi had a penalty saved by Thibaut Courtois just after the hour mark at the Parc des Princes.
Then, in the last minute of stoppage time, Mbappe burst into the box from the left and between two defenders before finishing past Courtois for his 22nd goal this season.
“I got myself into some space and then it was one against two in the box, and in the box the attacker is always in control,” Mbappe told broadcaster Canal Plus.
“The defenders were going back and I could decide where I wanted to go, and then I managed to put it between the legs of Courtois.” – AFP
