CITY FINALLY GET OFF TO A FLIER
PEP GUARDIOLA had confessed his admiration for Dutch football on the eve of this encounter which promised to provide a serious early examination of Manchester City’s quest to finally succeed in Europe. His mentor Johan Cruyff certainly knew something about this place, playing a season for Feyenoord in the early 1980s. But it was Guardiola’s side exhibiting the Total Football in a performance which revealed precisely what a £250million summer has delivered to Manchester City. The club have never opened a Champions League campaign more empathically. And, for all the caveats about the flimsy opposition offered by the home side, who were a huge disappointment, this was the best away display in City’s long and tortuous six-year quest for success at Europe’s top table. Afterwards, Guardiola said: ‘Last season, we couldn’t win one game away from home and we spoke about that. If we want to make a step forward, then we have to be important home and away. ‘We had a good performance and it was important to score in the first minute. Offensively and in terms of character we played well. There are a lot of things to do but a start like this is so important.’ That two of the goals came from John Stones demonstrated the numbers being thrown into the attack and the rapier threat of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus was evident again. But it was the axis of Kevin De Bruyne and Silvas — David and Bernardo — which provided the creative nexus. De Bruyne’s speed of thought and pass, piercing the Dutch defensive lines made him an untouchable presence. From the game’s first breath, this looked a different City to the side which has so often spluttered on the continent in recent years. They arrived with a lamentable record on the road in Europe — one win in 10 and one clean sheet in 17 games — but the flare