Steaua Bucharest 0 Manchester City 5
By the end, the only possible disappointment for Manchester City was that they might have to start looking for a new penalty-taker as well as a new goalkeeper. Yet Pep Guardiola’s team were so superior, so fluent in possession and utterly dominant, it turned out that Sergio Agüero could miss twice from the spot and it did not really matter a jot.
Before the superlatives start to flow, perhaps it should be taken into account that Steaua Bucharest were generous opponents. All the same, this was precisely the kind of performance that explains why City’s rulers in Abu Dhabi were so obsessed with the idea of making Guardiola their manager. City toyed with their opponents in the way that Barcelona did under Guardiola, and Bayern Munich did, too. They could have scored many more and it was a standing ovation that swept round Romania’s national stadium after Agüero’s second and third goals had completed the scoring. City had outclassed the hosts in every department and the crowd wanted to show their appreciation.
Guardiola's team certainly succeeded in switching the emphasis away from all the fuss surrounding Joe Hart, left out again in favour of Willy Caballero, and reminding their audience that it is usually a good policy to trust this manager. In the process, they guaranteed their place in the Champions League and Agüero need not ruminate on the penalties when he could take away the match-ball as a souvenir.
Agüero has now missed four out of his last five penalties in European games and, though he converted one against Sunderland at the weekend, it will be intriguing to see whether Guardiola is tempted to hand the role to somebody else. Agüero’s tendency is to aim the ball to the goalkeeper’s right and Steaua’s goalkeeper, Florin Nita, managed to get his gloves to the first one. Agüero went for power with his second effort but it was a wild enough shot to leave the impression that a little bit of self-doubt had crept into his mind.
Agüero looked crestfallen, bowing his head and raising his hands as an apology, and for a while he could have been forgiven for wondering how costly those misses might be. City could conceivably have had a 3-0 lead inside the opening 21 minutes and made it absolutely clear, with over three-quarters of the game still to play, that the return leg would be a mere formality.
Ultimately, though, it will still be that way and Agüero, typically, answered any questions about whether he might let it stew on his mind. It was a beautifully angled finish, four minutes before the interval, which he aimed just inside the post for City’s second goal and his reaction to the earlier disappointments spoke volumes for the player’s character. From that point onwards, there was never a serious risk that the penalties would be anything more than a passing irritation.
There was certainly plenty to enthuse Guardiola about the way his team passed the ball and, again, encouraging signs about Raheem Sterling’s renascent form. Sterling not only laid on the pass for the first goal but it was his sleight of foot that led to Muniru Sulley giving away the first penalty. Sterling’s confidence looked broken at times last season but already he looks a different player under Guardiola. It was his layoff for Agüero’s first goal and some brilliantly alert play, in the 13th minute, to dispossess Alin Tasca, sprint clear on the right then cut inside and pick out Silva for the opening goal.
By half-time, City could also reflect on various other chances to reward their superiority, most notably when Aleksandar Kolarov flashed a volley against the top of the crossbar and shortly afterwards when Nita flicked Sterling's shot over the frame of the goal. Guardiola, however, was not entirely enamoured by what he saw and the new City manager could be seen striding on the pitch to remonstrate with Nicolás Otamendi at the half-time whistle. Otamendi has a habit of diving into challenges and Guardiola, incensed by what he had seen, even gave his player a little jab in the ribs as they left the pitch.
Overall, though, City were outclassing the Romanians, epitomised by the flowing move that led to Gabriel Enache bringing down Kolarov for the second penalty and, four minutes into the second half, the exchange of passes that culminated in Kevin De Bruyne playing in Nolito to go around Nita and slot the ball into an empty net.
Steaua will look back at their one first-half attack of real note, when Caballero prevented Jugurtha Hamroun from equalising, but 1-1 at that stage would have felt like a tremendous injustice. The link-up play between De Bruyne, Silva and Fernandinho was wonderful at times and Nolito’s goal meant the remainder of the match was an exercise in damage limitation for the home side.
They were fortunate that Nita had legitimate claims to be recognised as the game’s outstanding performer but Agüero beat him with another right-foot finish in the 78th minute and then completed his hat-trick in the final exchanges, scoring in off a post.
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