City crush Lisbon and put ahead in champions quarter-finals
Manchester City put forward the quarter-finals of the Champions League, with a 5-0 victory over sporting Lisbon on Tuesday night in the final.
City's goals were scored by Riyad Mahrez (7), Bernardo Silva (17 and 44), Phil Foden (32) and Raheem Sterling (58).
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola resorted to the usual 4-3-3 play, with Emerick Laporte standing alongside Ruben Diaz deep in the back line, backed by linebackers John Stones and Joao Cancello, André playing the role of quarterback, and duo Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne taking over the game-making task, behind the attacking trio of Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling.
Sporting coach Ruben Amorim, on the other hand, relied on the way to play 3-4-2-1, with the defensive trio of Joncalo Inacio, Sebastian Quatis and Mathius Reyes on both sides of the pitch Pedro Boro and Ricardo Isjayo, Joao Ballinia and Mathius stationed in the middle of the pitch, while Pablo Sarabia and Bute moved behind the spearhead Paulinho.
City needed only seven minutes to open the scoring, when the ball reached De Bruyne next to goal, to pass it back to Mahrez, who shot it inside the goal, a goal that was cancelled out before the referee resorted to video technology that confirmed that there was no infiltration on De Bruyne.
City came close to scoring the second goal in the 11th minute, when Stones converted a cross from Sterling, but his attempt went past the goal.
The second goal came in the 17th minute, when Sporting's defence failed to keep the ball away in front of his goal, reaching Silva, who shot wildly, to bounce the ball from the crossbar into the net.
Sporting waited until the 29th minute, to shoot on goal for the first time, when Isagio's shot passed over the goal, and City responded two minutes later, by scoring the third goal, when Mahrez sent a cross into the box, received by Foden quietly skipping over the defence before putting the ball in goal.
City did not show mercy in front of their opponent despite their three-pointer, adding the fourth goal in the 44th minute, when Silva received a pass from Sterling, to shoot the ball back and bounce back from the defence to settle in the goal.
The video technology prevented Silva's third goal in the 49th minute from being scored on the 58th minute, when he received a pass from Silva to shoot in the far corner of Sporting's goal.
Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ilkay Gundogan entered City's squad in place of Stones and Foden, but the rhythm of the game began to calm down as the English team reassured the result.
In the 73rd minute, Guardiola threw Fernandinho in place of Rodri, before which Algerian Islam Slimani took Paulinho's place.
Mahrez almost scored his second personal goal in the 80th minute, when he tried to send in a cross, but the ball bounced back from Quatis to shake the top net from the outside.
City continued their substitutions with Liam Delap and Nathan Ake replacing Silva and Laporte, and the last 10 minutes passed, with no real threat to the goalkeepers.