The Citizens made light work of Atalanta beating the Serie A side 5-1 on a night Raheem Sterling became the first English player to score a Champions League hat-trick for Manchester City.
Manchester City put Atalanta to the sword as a pair of Sergio Aguero strikes in the first half and a Raheem Sterling hat trick in the second gave the hosts a comfortable comeback 5-1 victory at the Etihad on Tuesday night.
Raheem Sterling was the star of the show as Manchester City handed a harsh European lesson to Champions League debutants Atalanta on match day 3 of the UEFA Champions League.
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The two sides had never met competitively before, but Atalanta arrived England having previously beaten Everton home and away in the Europa League group stage, including a 5-1 win at Goodison Park two years ago.
The Italians began the night confidently, though and were soon one nil up after Fernandinho fouled Ilicic to give Malinovskiy the chance to put Atalanta ahead from the spot.
But Pep Guardiola’s men roared back quickly when Sterling found Aguero for the equaliser with a fine overhead pass.
A few minutes later and City were in front, Sterling again winning a penalty from Masiello which Aguero stepped up to bury.
City smelled blood after the break and went for the slaughter. The home side won possession in midfield, De Bruyne carried it forward down the right and laid it square for Foden. The youngster could not quite work the angle for the shot but fed it onto Sterling, who smashed it in under the crossbar.
It was Sterling’s first of the night and his tenth of an incredible season.
A few minutes later, the Englishman had his second and City’s fourth.
Sterling got in behind the visitors defence after a nice bit of combination play between Mendy, Gundogan and Foden, and he never looked like not scoring. He drifted inside a defender and planted it inside the near post as Gollini looked to cover the other side.
On the 70th minute mark, Sterling completed his twelve minutes hat trick. Aguero got in behind from Foden’s pass and drew a good save from Gollini after a beautiful bit of control, but the ball came back out to Mahrez on the right. The Algerian put it back into a similar area where Sterling assisted Aguero for his first, and Sterling made no mistake with the finish.
Game, set, and match. Man City.
With previous wins over Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar Donetsk under their belts, City now have a foot in the next round of the Champions League after nine points out of nine, a 100 per cent record in Europe so far this season.
