Man City: The unstoppable force in Europe

Man City crush Young Boys to reach Champions League last 16

Manchester City have secured their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a dominant 4-0 win over Young Boys at the Etihad Stadium.

The hosts took the lead in the 12th minute when Erling Haaland scored his 10th goal in 10 games for the club since joining from Borussia Dortmund in the summer. The Norwegian striker latched onto a through ball from Kevin De Bruyne and slotted it past the keeper with a cool finish.

City doubled their advantage in the 28th minute when Raheem Sterling curled a superb shot into the top corner from the edge of the box after a clever lay-off from Phil Foden.

The visitors had no answer to City’s relentless pressure and conceded a third goal in the 39th minute when Jack Grealish volleyed in a cross from Joao Cancelo at the far post.

The second half was a similar story as City continued to dominate possession and create chances. They added a fourth goal in the 66th minute when Ferran Torres headed in a cross from Riyad Mahrez after a quick counter-attack.

City have now won all four of their group games and have a perfect 12 points, 10 more than second-placed Paris Saint-Germain, who lost 2-1 to RB Leipzig in the other game .Young Boys are bottom of the group with one point and have no chance of progressing to the next round.

City manager Pep Guardiola praised his team’s performance and said he was happy to qualify for the last 16 with two games to spare.

“We played very well, we scored four goals and we didn’t concede any. We controlled the game from the first minute to the last. I’m very pleased with the way we played and the result,” he said.

“We are in the next round and that’s very important. We can focus on the Premier League and the other competitions now. We have a tough schedule ahead of us and we need to be ready for every game,” he added.

Young Boys manager David Wagner admitted his team were outclassed by City and said they had to learn from the experience.

“They are a fantastic team, one of the best in the world. They have so much quality and they play with such intensity and speed. We tried our best but we couldn’t cope with them,” he said.

“We have to accept the defeat and move on. We have to take the positives from this campaign and try to improve. We still have two games left and we want to show our best,” he said.

City will face PSG in their next Champions League game on November 23, while Young Boys will host Leipzig on the same day.