Manchester City demolish Sporting Portugal: 0-4 at halftime


Tuesday, February 15, 2022 at 9:53 PM• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 21:59

Manchester City gave Sporting Portugal football lessons in 45 minutes in the Champions League on Tuesday evening. Josep Guardiola’s team threw the diptych in the billion-dollar ball into the lock before half-time by finding the net four times. Thanks to two hits from Riyad Mahrez and goals from Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, City already decided the game before half-time.

Manchester City, where Nathan Ake started from the bench, won the past Premier League matches with the necessary conviction and was also quickly on roses against Sporting. The Citizens proved efficient by immediately converting the first opportunity into a goal. Antonio Adán initially had an answer to a Phil Foden bet, but then fielded the ball straight into Kevin De Bruyne’s course. The Belgian midfielder put wide on Riyad Mahrez, who could easily tap in: 0-1.

While referee Srdan Jovanovic initially seemed to throw a spanner in the works for City by canceling the goal due to offside, the VAR eventually reversed the Serbian referee’s decision to the joy of the visitors. Sporting combined dangerously several times up to City’s box, but were unable to actually test Ederson.

Silva gave the dream start of Guardiola’s team even more shape by nicely taking the ball on the shoe after more than fifteen minutes of play. The attacker’s shot hit the bottom of the crossbar like a cannonball, leaving the home side with an almost impossible task: 0-2. Sporting couldn’t get a grip on the opponent’s urge to attack and had to watch as Foden scored the third goal after being shot in the defense. City showed no mercy and put the 0-4 on the scoreboard just before half-time.