Impressive Man City cruise past Borrusia MonchenGladbach but can Pep finally end quarter-final hoodoo?
The hard work starts now for Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's team breezed into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a ruthless 2-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach that sealed a 4-0 aggregate win.
City were just far too good for the German side, whose form has fallen off a cliff since manager Marco Rose announced he was leaving to take over at Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
A high-energy, relentless performance from City ensured that Gladbach were not given even a hint of a chance to pull off an upset in a game switched to Budapest because of coronavirus regulations.
From the moment Kevin De Bruyne smashed in a fierce, 20-yard strike in the 12th minute, the tie was effectively over. City added another goal just six minutes later to make sure, though, with Ilkay Gundogan finishing after racing on to Phil Foden's defence-splitting pass.
City could have scored more but the victory was so comfortable that Guardiola was able to rest players in the second half ahead of Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final clash with Everton, as City look to take another significant step towards an unprecedented quadruple.
But as impressive as their performance was, the City boss will know very well that the true tests of his side's European hopes are still to come.
Monchengladbach, languishing in the bottom half of the Bundesliga, have now lost seven successive matches for the first time since 1989. They cannot be used to provide an accurate measurement of City's quality.
Short of confidence and without an attacking threat, their focus quickly switched to damage limitation, making progression a formality for Guardiola's troops.
What happens now is key. City have reached the quarters with Guardiola on three previous occasions - but never gone any further.
City have impressed in reaching the last eight without breaking sweat, sailing through the group stage before their dismantling of Monchengladbach.
It is likely that they will face a genuine European heavyweight in the quarter-final draw on Friday, however, with Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid among those already through.
Nonetheless, there are encouraging signs for City that they have developed a style that could finally yield Champions League success against the very best.
