Stones doubles up as Guardiola’s men deliver Dutch destruction

FOR the serial European underachievers of Manchester City, this was a great night. They have only won their Champions League group once, from six attempts, which explains in part why they have not made their mark on the knockout rounds either.

So to open their campaign like this, with a 4-0 win away at the Dutch champions, maintaining total control, never once looking bothered, was the perfect start to their long campaign.

Especially as Napoli, the next best team in the group, lost away in Ukraine at the same time. If City do not finish top of Group F from here, it would be entirely their mistake.

But while this was a great European night for City, it was not a great night for Europe. The Champions League is meant to provide robust competition between the continent’s best teams. This was the Dutch champions, remember, with their bright young coach, in their historic stadium, cheered on by 44,000 loyal fans. And it felt more like City playing an FA Cup game away to a Championship side.

The gap between the teams was so big that it never felt like an even contest, especially not with City scoring their first after two minutes and their second after 10.

Any trepidation or anxiety from City cannot have lasted even two minutes. That is how long it took for them to go ahead, with a goal that showed up the uncomfortable distance between the sides.

David Silva forced a corner down the left, took it quickly to Kevin De Bruyne and then crossed, before the Feyenoord defence could even switch on. John Stones got ahead of Jan-Arie van der Heijden to head, Tonny Vilhena just stood on the line as the ball rolled through his legs and in.

This is meant to be a club built around the value of hard work; the club motto, ‘Geen woorden maar daden’, means ‘more words than deeds’. But these players, Dutch champions, could not even make it difficult for City, who looked like scoring every time they attacked. Eric Botteghin had to scramble a Gabriel Jesus header off the line but soon enough City had their second.

This was a classic Guardiola move, a series of swift incisions, Sergio Aguero to Bernardo Silva to Kyle Walker, bursting down the right. He whipped in his low cross, Aguero darted away from the defender and volleyed straight in.

That was the end of the Feyenoord challenge, in truth, and it just became a question of how many City would score. Aguero had another saved and when the third came it felt almost farcical. Benjamin Mendy hammered a 30-yard shot, Brad Jones spilled it and Jesus tapped it in. The Feyenoord defenders thought he was offside but he was not Guardiola, from then, had an eye on other challenges, not least Watford away on Saturday as he took off Aguero.

City were just as dangerous as ever, however, especially when they had De Bruyne firing in his immaculate set-pieces. He worked an angle with a short corner and curled in a cross, Stones got up and thumped his second of the night.

Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and even Fabian Delph came on at the end, as City controlled possession, thought about scoring a fifth, then decided against it. Maybe Vicarage Road will prove harder. (© Independent News Service)