Erling Haaland enhanced his phenomenal Champions League record to fire Manchester City to an emphatic victory at Sevilla in their opening group-stage encounter.
The Norwegian prodded in from Kevin De Bruyne's cross to give the visitors the lead 20 minutes into what proved to be a thoroughly-dominant performance. Sevilla struggled to get out of their own half for swathes of the match and were vulnerable on the break when they ventured too far forward.
Haaland looked to turn provider early in the second half but De Bruyne saw his bottom-corner-bound effort strongly saved by Bono. 10 minutes later, Phil Foden put the result beyond any doubt just before the hour mark with a precise effort from just inside the area.
Haaland and Ruben Dias completed what was a perfect night for City with goals midway through the second half and in added time respectively. The result saw the Sky Blues surpass Borussia Dortmund to take top spot in Group G, following the German giants' 3-0 victory over Copenhagen earlier on Tuesday evening.
Here are five talking points from the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.
Who else but Haaland?
As Manchester City goals go, this was was textbook, the kind fans have seen dozens of times under Pep Guardiola. A deft through-ball from the edge of the area, a powerful, low cross at the byline and and a simple-enough finish in the six-yard box.
It is a hugely-successful formula and there was no surprise at who got on the end of Kevin De Bruyne's cross after Phil Foden's pass. Erling Haaland made it 11 goals for the season and a truly breathtaking 24 in 20 career appearances in the Champions League as he combined with De Bruyne to give City the lead in the 20th minute.
Sevilla will be disappointed by the way they were so easily carved open for the goal, but given their dismal return of one point from their opening four La Liga games, the hosts falling behind was about as surprising as seeing Haaland on the scoresheet.
The Norwegian brought up a quarter-century of Champions League goals in the 67th minute with the simplest of finishes after Bono saved Phil Foden's shot into his path. Given his relentless mentality, Haaland will have been slightly frustrated that Pep Guardiola took him off on a hat-trick just moments later.
Manuel's maiden outing
Such was Manchester City's dominance of possession and territory, it was about as routine a game as Manuel Akanji could have dreamed of for his Sky Blues debut. In his first appearance since joining from Borussia Dortmund, the Swiss international lined up alongside Ruben Dias in part of a rotated defence, with new boy Sergio Gomez also handed his first start at left-back and Joao Cancelo on the right.
During the first half, Sevilla managed just two shots, neither of which was on target, and found themselves penned back in their own half, enduring wave after wave of pressure from the Premier League champions. The closest the hosts came to an equaliser was at the end of the first half, when Papu Gomez lashed over from Thomas Delaney's flick round the corner following a clever set-piece routine.
De Bruyne denied
Moments after Sevilla fashioned a rare chance at the other end of the pitch shortly after half-time, Kevin De Bruyne found himself on the cusp of doubling Manchester City's lead during a lightning-fast counter-attack.
This time, it was Erling Haaland doing the creative work to release his teammate, but Bono got a strong hand to De Bruyne's effort to tip it wide of the post when he found himself one-on-one. It was a seldom-seen moment that proved even the Belgian maestro is human.
Foden's finish
While Kevin De Bruyne was guilty of squandering a gilt-edged chance 10 minutes earlier, Phil Foden capitalised on the slightest bit of space in the box to double Manchester City's lead just before the hour mark.
The England prodigy was able to turn before rifling back across Bono, seeing his effort nestle in the bottom corner to put City 2-0 up. This continued what has been a fine start to the season for Foden, but the same cannot be said of his £100million teammate Jack Grealish, who was taken off after a quiet match on 62 minutes and is still waiting for his first goal or assist this season.
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Pep perfection
Four goals scored and none conceded; there are few better ways to commence a Champions League campaign. Much has been made of whether this is the season when Pep Guardiola will finally lead Manchester City to European glory, especially as Erling Haaland has started it in such scintillating form.
Ahead of the match in Spain, the City boss was keen to stress Haaland cannot inspire the Etihad club to their greatest triumph on his own. Despite their No.9's two-goal haul at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium, the Sky Blues were so dominant that they may have cruised to victory even without Haaland.
That being said, 12 goals at this early stage of the season is an astonishing tally and there is no denying the fact that the Norwegian sensation will be striking fear into the hearts of clubs across the continent.
