SUPERSTUB STERLING’S LAST LAUGH

From joke penalty to brilliant punchline

HE did not appeal but nor was there an obvious attempt to try to tell the referee he was making an embarrassing mistake.

Other than it being the comic highlight of a straightforward hammering, it was of no great relevance.

Yet the toe-stub and farcical fall typifies the lot of Raheem Sterling. More often than not, there is something to distract from his burgeoning brilliance. A tattoo or a tumble, there is something.

But beyond any controversy – imagined or otherwise – there is a character and a player who symbolises a City team that is threatening to

be even stronger,

even more fluent, even more confident than they were last season.

This was as routine a romp as they could have wished for against Shakhtar Donetsk – no wonder with this squad.

Whatever the consequences of allegations of financial unfair play, what is beyond doubt – what does not need suggesting by a trove of leaked emails – is City’s monetary might allows them to field super-strong teams backed by benches of stunning quality. It was the turn of Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane to take a breather this time.

But there are some players Pep Guardiola is loath to rest and Fernandinho is towards the top of that list. In fact, if there is anyone higher in the pecking order, he will probably tackle him.

He tackles everything else. A doyen of the tactical foul, a spoiler supreme, an arch interceptor, there is a case for him to be regarded as Guardiola’s most valuable player.

Interruption and destruction are only two of the many facets of his game.

There was not a better pass executed than the one he put through for Sterling. It was just a shame Sterling did not do it justice, instead catching a foot in the turf and propelling himself into a tumble, inadvertently fooling hapless referee Viktor Kassai.

Gabriel Jesus, with a Pogbalite run-up, did the rest from the penalty spot, doubling City’s lead after David Silva had tapped in a Riyad Mahrez assist that involved an awful lot of twisted blood for defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy. The debate raged – well, very gently simmered – about whether any conartistry was in evidence but Sterling gets the benefit of the doubt on this occasion.

Not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things as City were always going to win this at a canter.

But it did remind whatever UEFA emissaries were present, that the decision not to use VAR in this season’s Champions League was deeply regrettable. Just as the Premier League’s decision was.

As for the lollipop men behind the goals, the less said the better. It was a rank injustice but not one that left Sterling stricken with guilt.

Early in the second half, he managed to avoid any turfkicking as he swaggered through the attentions of three defenders and curled in a corker.

If only he had repeated his penalty fall in celebration.

Discussion and debate will go on about his intentions or otherwise but what is not open to argument is Sterling’s stellar form.

He has now been involved in 13 goals for City this season, seven for himself and six assists, and has 10 Champions League goals for the club in 29 games.

This is a footballer full of himself and with the sort of confidence that Jesus (inset) has been in need of.

And after a couple of boosters from the spot – his second and City’s fourth coming after David Silva was fouled by Taras Stepanenko – that confidence arrived, crystallised in the chip for his hat-trick and the sixth after Mahrez had collected a fine, narrow-angled fifth with his wrong foot.