Just like they have every other team this season, Manchester City blew away Basel in the Champions League on Tuesday night with a 4-0 victory.Quick-fire goals from Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero gave the Premier League leaders a 3-0 lead within 25 minutes, with Gundogan making it four in the 53rd minute.It means their place in the quarter-finals is basically guaranteed, but for a hugely unlikely collapse at the Etihad Stadium in the second leg on March 3.City's performance even amazed Pep Guardiola, who raved about his players in his post-match press conference."The Champions League is 180 minutes, but we are almost there," said the Spaniard. "I'm not saying it's done, because in football anything can happen, but it's an amazing result."We could have been 2-0 down but then we were 0-2 up. We were clinical and I am delighted with the performance.
"We kept our level, we fought hard and created chances to score. They were four amazing goals. Overall I'm delighted."
One player who once again impressed at St Jakob-Park was summer signing Silva, who has been in fantastic form since the turn of 2018.
Back in December people were accusing Guardiola of ruining the Portuguese midfielder, yet he's scored three goals - should be four - and provided four assists in his last 10 games.
There was one moment against Basel that encapsulated Silva's ability, when he produced the most magical touch to bring the ball down from some height.
In the video below, Vincent Kompany clears the ball high into the sky and it looks like it's about to go out of play.
But Silva runs to the touchline and stops the ball completely dead before nutmegging a Basel player to find Kevin De Bruyne. Check it out.
HOW'S YOUR TOUCH?
It's no wonder Silva's teammates call him 'bubble gum', which was a nickname given to him by Benjamin Mendy at Monaco last season.
"Bernardo Silva? I call him bubble gum because the ball is glued to his foot. I could pay to watch him play," said Mendy in 2017.
Just look at this footage of the 23-year-old, too.