Manchester City could sniff the silver after beating Liverpool by three points in the Premier League with a thrilling 5-0 win over Newcastle United.
Raheem Sterling started and ended the atrocity, with Aymeric Laporte, Rodri, and Phil Foden also on the points page as City made no mistake at the Etihad Stadium.
In the wake of Real Madrid’s defeat in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday, City did not play as if they were facing a major blow.
Pep Guardiola said the Madrid game was sure to be on the minds of his players, but the welcome disruption came when rivals Liverpool were held to a draw by Tottenham on Saturday, which is a big blow to the Reds’ hopes. In this evidence, City must successfully celebrate its title in this stadium in two weeks’ time.
Chris Wood from Newcastle missed a good chance eight minutes later when he hit a soft ball to Ederson from Allan Saint-Maximin, and in a corner a few minutes later Laporte fired a shot short.
Joao Cancelo hit hard after Kevin De Bruyne’s ball on the left, but City were ahead quickly. The first goal came in the 19th minute when Ilkay Gundogan smashed the ball into the net by Cancelo to give Sterling a header.
Wood had the ball in City’s net, but his close-range shutout was denied due to an offside against Bruno Guimaraes, and the home side doubled their lead in the 38th minute when Martin Dubravka fired Gundogan’s 20-yard volley into the corner and Laporte tied. . in the middle.
Rodri made it 3-0 in the hour when De Bruyne’s left corner found him nearby, and the midfielder’s head hit Dubravka.
Oleksandr Zinchenko hit Dubravka hard as City looked to increase goal difference.
They caught the fourth in the 90th minute when Foden converted a short distance after Jack Grealish and Zinchenko met on the left, while the Greeks fed Sterling to drive home a fifth to scratch both Newcastle and Liverpool.
