City crush Lisbon and put one foot in the Champions Quarter-finals
Manchester City put forward in the Champions League quarter-finals, by defeating its host Sporting Lisbon 5-0, in the first leg of the first round of the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
City goals were scored by Riyad Mahrez (7), Bernardo Silva (17 and 44), Phil Foden (32), and Rahim Sterling (58).
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola resorted to the usual 4-3-3 game, where Emeric Laporte stood alongside Robin Diaz deep in the backline, with the support of full-backs John Stones and Joao Cancelo, Rodri played the role of the center player, and the duo Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruin, the playmaking mission, is behind the attacking trio of Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling.
Watch the full match goals 5-0
On the other hand, Sporting coach Ruben Amorim relied on the 3-4-2-1 method of play, where the defensive trio of Goncalo Inacio, Sebastian Coates, and Matthews Reis, was present on both sides of the field, Pedro Borro and Ricardo Esgayo, and Joao Balenia and Matthews were concentrated in the midfield, while Pablo Sarabia and Poti, moved behind Paulinho’s spearhead.
And City needed only seven minutes to open the scoring, when the ball reached De Bruyne while he was next to the goal, to pass it back to Mahrez, who shot it into the goal, a goal that was canceled before the referee resorted to video technology that confirmed that there was no offside 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 wide.
The second goal came in the 17th minute, when Sporting’s defense failed to clear the ball in front of its goal, to reach the ball to Silva, who fired violently, to bounce the ball off the crossbar into the net.
Sporting waited until the 29th minute, to hit the goal for the first time when Isagio’s shot went over the goal, and City responded two minutes later, by scoring the third goal when Mahrez sent a cross pass into the penalty area, which Foden received quietly bypassing the defense before putting the ball into the goal.
