- City makes third quarterfinal in four years
- Aguero bags brace
- Sane, Sterling produce electric displays
Sergio Aguero scored twice as Manchester City leveled Schalke 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie on Tuesday.
Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Gabriel Jesus, and Bernardo Silva also scored as City collected a 10-2 aggregate win over its Bundesliga opposition to reach the quarterfinals.
[ MORE: Full lineups, stats, box score ]
Man City opened up the match with control of the ball and the chances, even seeing a goal chalked off for interference as Raheem Sterling’s interference with Schalke’s Ralf Fahrmann is what allowed Aymeric Laporte to slot home.
That’s when City did the thing which would make life mathematically improbable for Schalke: Score a goal.
Jeffrey Bruma took down Bernardo Silva in the box to give City a chance from the spot. Aguero’s conversion meant Schalke would need to score three goals without conceding again to Man City. Tall order.
Fahrmann stopped Aguero from making it 2-0 moments later on a dribble inside the box, but couldn’t manage to repeat the feat when the Argentine was set-up by Sterling in the 38th minute.
Sane helped City to its 3-0 halftime lead with a run past USMNT midfielder Weston McKennie, playing right back for Schalke, to beat Fahrmann.
But that wasn’t all. Sterling used VAR to overrule the linesman when he blasted City in front by five on aggregate just after the break. Sane again played the role of maestro on the goal.
Then Foden became the the youngest player ever to score a Champions League goal for Manchester City, again from Sane, and Gabriel Jesus made it 7-0 before long.
