Manchester City 7 Schalke 0 : City in Seventh Heaven

The fact that Manchester City have so ruthlessly progressed to the Champions League Quarter Finals will not have gone unnoticed and there is not a single team left in the competition who would relish playing the blues.

The strange thing to remember about this match – because it almost seems incredible – is that Schalke looked pretty good for about half an hour. They looked stubborn and strong and it seemed as though this might be one of those games where we rustled up a low key 0:0 draw. They defended deep and risked little in their counter attacking plan. The set up was about staying in the game as long as possible, and they did.

City probed and pressed and moved the ball around the pitch. At times the final pass just missed a little precision and intensity. The all important break through came when Bernardo was bundled over in the penalty area which ushered in the first lengthy VAR delay as someone somewhere tried to remember the password to the UEFA computer and the fans in the stadium were left scratching their heads. In the eons we were waiting for the penalty to be awarded, Aguero was not questioning his penalty taking ability but was just deciding how outrageous he would be. He stepped up and chipped the prone keeper.

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The second goal came from a delightful lofted pass by Gundogan to Sterling who back heeled the ball into the path of Aguero, who was fouled but still managed to nutmeg the keeper. There followed another lengthy VAR review before the goal was confirmed. Whilst VAR was making sure the decisions were correct, it was also just sucking the life out of the match by numbing goal celebrations as fans watched the referee stick his finger in his ear.

The third goal came about just before half time and saw Leroy Sane get on the scoresheet. Gundogan switched play to Zinchenko who threaded a quick pass for Sane to run onto and strike a sweet shot across the goal keeper.

After half time Schalke seemed to reorganise but it made very little difference as the heart seeped out of their game. Their Schalke players just wanted it to end and hoped that their Mum’s were not watching.

Sane seemed to reach top gear. He missed one clear opportunity and had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR and quickly afterwards he released Sterling in a break who volleyed first time into the net. Jesus and Foden came on for Aguero and Silva in the 64th minute but the change in personnel changed nothing in terms of the performance level of Manchester City.

The 5th goal was another piece of sublime play. Foden retrieved a lost cause for Sane who squared the ball to Bernardo who struck first time in off the post. This was beautiful passing and movement of the highest order. Laporte went off for Delph after 71 minutes and City had no centre backs on the pitch. We are Manchester City and we play how we want.

The 6th goal was Foden. Zinchenko released Sane who came inside and held the ball whilst Foden ran ahead. Foden received the pass and rounded the goalkeeper. It was his first European goal and his 6th goal of the season. The best I could say is the goal looked like it had been hit by David Silva.

Foden had a shot well saved before Jesus finished the scoring with an edge of the area shot which evaded the Schalke keeper. All in all this was an immense performance where City just swept Schalke aside. There were excellent performances all over the pitch and it was a clear indication of how dominant we had been that the referee put Schalke out of their misery and did not award a single second of injury time.

It is too early to talk about winning this competition, as it is so dependent on the draw and the state of the squad during the key matches, but we go into the draw fearing nobody having sent a defiant message to anyone watching.