Manchester City steamrolled Schalke to register a 7-0 win – 10-2 on aggregate – and march into the quarter-finals of the Champions League in emphatic fashion.
Sergio Aguero scored an early brace before Leroy Sane added one more to put the result beyond doubt before half-time.
Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus found the net in the second half to eliminate the German team in humiliating fashion.
We take a look at the talking points from the goal-fest.
Manchester City are just absurd
No team marched into the quarter-finals as convincingly as City did. The Premier League leaders ran riot at the Etihad stadium and were clearly the better side in every department.
City’s approach to the game oozed winning mentality. The hosts refused to turn down the tempo no matter what the score-line read. They were there not to just qualify for the quarters, but to make a powerful statement that they should be considered favourites in the tournament.
Aguero should have been taken off at half-time, given City had a comfortable lead and the Argentine was a yellow away from missing the next game. But he wasn’t taken off until the hour-mark and looked as hungry as ever even after bagging the brace.
The intensity shown by the players despite practically putting the game to bed in the first 30 minutes was truly commendable.
Leroy Sane
Goodbye Tedesco?
A lot was expected of Schalke boss Domenico Tedesco after a successful first season at the club. The Italian led the German team to a second place finish in the league and ensured that they made it past the group stages of the Champions League.
However, his second season has been nothing short of a disaster and it would not be surprising if he is sacked immediately.
Schalke are now hovering above the relegation zone and enduring an extremely tough phase in the league. Their chances of survival are still positive but the momentum is not with them.
The German team was not expected to emerge victorious in this tie but bowing out in such humiliating fashion should be the last straw for Tedesco.
There was absolutely no plan, no sense of organisation as Schalke were overridden by the hosts.
Tedesco
Boring VAR?
Another huge talking point from this game has to be the luxurious use of VAR (Video assistant refereeing).
The technological tool designed to help the referee make the right decision was used very generously and broke the flow of the game at times.
VAR was used to check for the penalty that led to the first goal and each of the next three goals. A couple of those were clear as day and did not warrant its use. The technology was further called upon in the second half to rightfully deny Sane a goal.
While VAR is seen as a boon that helps achieve fair results, it was used far too frequently and unnecessarily and broke the flow of the game multiple times. This game showed why the rules governing the necessity to go to VAR needs to be stricter.
