BASEL: Manchester City effectively killed off their Champions League tie against FC Basel after 23 minutes last night, flattening the Swiss champions with three quickfire goals on their way to a 4-0 away win.
Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero scored within nine minutes of each other in the last 16 first leg tie to almost certainly extend Basel’s wait for a first quarter-final appearance in the competition.
Gundogan curled in the fourth from the edge of the area in the 53rd minute as the runaway English Premier League leaders clocked up another emphatic win in their remarkable season.
Basel did their best to make a game of it and created several openings but looked vulnerable every time City attacked.
City, who have lost in three of their previous four appearances at this stage of the competition, enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession with 69 percent, although that was still unremarkable by their standards.
Despite the scoreline, City had 12 shots to Basel’s 11 and the Swiss could have taken an early lead.
Dimitri Oberlin got clear of City’s defence and tried to poke the ball past Ederson as the Brazilian rushed out of his area but got no power on the ball allowing Kyle Walker to clear easily.
Oberlin also had a penalty appeal turned down as he went over under a challenge from Nicolas Otamendi.
Reality struck for Basel in the 14th minute when Gundogan beat Fabian Frei to Kevin de Bruyne’s corner and headed in.
Four minutes later, Leo Lacroix failed to cut out Raheem Sterling’s cross and the unmarked Silva lobbed his shot over Tomas Vaclik’s attempted save, then Aguero scored the third from outside the area.
Ederson made his first real save in the 49th minute, palming away Mohamed Elyounoussi’s long-range shot, but shortly afterwards, Aguero set up Gundogan who took one touch and placed a looping shot into the far corner.
A brilliant Vaclik save denied Gundogan a hat-trick late on but, even so, the second leg looks little more than a formality for Pep Guardiola’s side.
At Turin, Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen pulled Tottenham back from the brink to hold Juventus 2-2, spoiling what had looked set to be a Gonzalo Higuain one-man show.
Higuain had put Juventus – finalists twice in the past three seasons – two goals up within the first nine minutes at the Allianz Stadium.
The Argentine’s lightning strike after just 73 seconds was followed by a second from the spot to leave Mauricio Pochettino’s English side reeling.
But the 30-year-old missed two further chances to hammer home Juventus’s domination in the first half, with his second penalty hitting the crossbar just before the break.
Kane pulled Spurs back into the game after 35 minutes, latching onto a Dele Alli pass to round a helpless Gianluigi Buffon who had advanced off his line, making no mistake alone in front of goal.
It was 24-year-old Kane’s seventh goal this season and puts him level with Steven Gerrard for the most scored by an English player in a single Champions League season.
Dane Eriksen whipped in the second with a 70th-minute free-kick after centre-back Giorgio Chiellini fouled Alli, sending it low past a diving Buffon.
The away goals leave Spurs in a strong position ahead of the return leg on March 7 at Wembley Stadium in London.