Manchester City strolled into the Champions League quarter-finals for the fifth consecutive season with a 5-0 aggregate win over Sporting Lisbon despite a subdued 0-0 draw on Wednesday.
All the hard work for the English champions was done in the Portuguese capital three weeks ago.
On Wednesday a much-changed side cruised and could even afford the luxury of bringing 36-year-old goalkeeper Scott Carson off the bench in the final stages.
City are on course for a fourth Premier League title in five seasons, but the Champions League has so far remained out of reach despite the billions invested by the club’s Abu Dhabi owners.
Pep Guardiola’s men reached the final for the first time last season and are among the favourites to finally become kings of Europe in Paris come May.
A much tougher test will lie ahead in the last eight as Sporting set out at the Etihad just to avoid another embarrassing scoreline like the one they suffered on home soil.
Guardiola handed a…
Source: Guardian Newspaper
