LISBON, Feb 16, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - 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 will 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.

  But Champions League success has been harder to come by.

   Guardiola insisted this week that critics of his flawed European record
over the last decade are "jealous" of his achievements.

   Yet the Spaniard hasn't won the Champions League since 2011 with
Barcelona, while City are still waiting to lift the trophy for the first
time.

   City's Champions League history is littered with unexpectedly premature
exits, but they came painfully close last season, losing 1-0 to Chelsea in
the final in Porto.

   Back on Portuguese soil to launch a knockout stage campaign they hope will
climax with silverware in the final in Saint Peterburg, City's sublime
performance underlined their desire to go one better this time.

   - Sumptuous City -

   City were originally due to face Villarreal before a UEFA error forced a
re-draw that pitted them against Sporting instead.

   It looked an easier tie on paper and so it proved as Sporting, in the last
16 for only the second time, were out-classed from start to finish.

   Sporting's fans did their best to make it a hostile evening, loudly
jeering Silva, Ruben Dias and Joao Cancelo for their spells with arch rivals
Benfica.

   But City took just seven minutes to silence the ear-splitting din with a
sumptuous move.

   Silva found Foden in the Sporting area and his shot was pushed out by
Antonio Adan to Kevin De Bruyne, who scooped it back into the six-yard box
for Mahrez to slot into the empty net.

   Initially disallowed for offside, it took a lengthy VAR check before
Mahrez could celebrate his 10th goal in his last 11 Champions League
appearance. City were in the groove and Silva produced a moment of magic in
the 17th minute.

   When Rodri's header dropped in the Sporting area, the hosts were too slow
to react and Silva pounced with a blistering half-volley that flashed in off
the underside of the crossbar.

   Guardiola's team were so slick that even Sporting's supporters were moved
to applaud after the visitors' third goal.

   Mahrez twisted and turned on the right flank before whipping in a low
cross that evaded Sporting's flailing defence, allowing Foden to finish with
ease on his 150th City appearance.

   City weren't done yet and the fourth goal arrived in the 44th minute.

   Cancelo's lofted pass picked out Sterling's run into the Sporting area and
his cutback was dispatched by Silva via a deflection.

   Silva was denied a hat-trick five minutes into the second half when his
header was ruled out for offside.

   But Sterling put the seal on City's masterclass in the 58th minute, taking
aim from 20 yards and curling a superb strike into the far corner.