LISBON – Pep Guardiola insisted Manchester City still have room for improvement after Bernardo Silva’s brace inspired a masterful 5-0 rout of Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League last 16 first leg on Tuesday.
Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring and Silva bagged the second before Phil Foden made it three by the 32nd minute.
City are unbeaten in their last 13 games in all competition, a hot streak that now includes 12 wins.
Sterner tests will await City later in the competition but this was a significant statement of intent that will have been heard all around Europe.
Determined to keep his players grounded, Guardiola said: “The difference between the two teams is not 5-0 but we were so clinical. We punished them.
“We had some simple passes that we lost. Against the top sides in Europe we would be punished.
“We have one more game to be in the quarter-finals and this is what you want. The players know me and the way we work that we can do better.
“I’m incredibly happy, please don’t misunderstand me, but we can do better.”
With City nine points clear at the top of the Premier League in their pursuit of a fourth title in five years, there is no questioning Guardiola’s domestic preeminence.
But Champions League success has been harder to come by.
Guardiola insisted this week that critics of his flawed European record over the last decade are “jealous” of his achievements.
Yet the Spaniard hasn’t won the Champions League since 2011 with Barcelona, while City are still waiting to lift the trophy for the first time.
City’s Champions League history is littered with unexpectedly premature exits, but they came painfully close last season, losing 1-0 to Chelsea in the final in Porto.
Back on Portuguese soil to launch a knockout stage campaign they hope will climax with silverware in the final in Saint Peterburg, City’s sublime performance underlined their desire to go one better this time.
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