Dynamo Kiev 1 Manchester City 3 analysis: Five things we learned from a good away day

City have one foot in the quarter-finals after dominant victory

David Silva finishes off a brilliant move for Manchester City’s second goal (Reuters)

City’s big players may well go all the way

This was a night decided by the men who still dominate Manchester City. Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Yaya Toure’s goals ensured that Dynamo Kiev will have to score at least three times at the Etihad Stadium in the return leg.

Vincent Kompany made three or four crucial interventions while Joe Hart pulled off a world-class one-handed save to prevent Vitaliy Buyalskiy equalising when the tie suddenly hung in the balance. If the core of that side – which was assembled when Garry Cook rather than Ferran Soriano was City’s chief executive – can maintain that level of performance, Pep Guardiola might just inherit another set of European champions.

If you prioritise a match you have to win it

There was only one justification for Manchester City essentially throwing Sunday’s FA Cup tie at Chelsea – if they came away from Ukraine with a win or a scoring draw. That City became the first side in more than two years to beat Dynamo Kiev on their own ground was a vindication of Manuel Pellegrini’s stance.

You could argue that a Premier League team should have been able to play on the Sunday, endure a presumably luxurious three-hour flight to Kiev and play on the Wednesday. Pellegrini thought not and the fact that Manchester City are very close to a European Cup quarter-final for the first time in their history is the only answer he needs to give.

This is how to play against a rusty team

Manchester’s two Premier League clubs both faced European ties against sides who had not played competitively since early December. Last week, Midtjylland, having gone behind, were allowed to find their touch and their rhythm by a United team that had disintegrated as a coherent unit long before the end. Dynamo Kiev were not given that luxury by Manchester City who, once Aguero had put them ahead, went for the throat.

Kiev’s rustiness was made worse by the fact that it was even longer since they’d had a game that stretched them. Their two matches before the long winter break were a 1-0 Champions League win over an already-eliminated Maccabi Tel Aviv and a 6-0 thrashing of the league’s worst team, Metalurh Zaporizhya. That and some warm-weather training in Spain was no kind of preparation for the storm Manchester City were to unleash.

Yaya Toure makes it 3-1 to Manchester City (Getty Images)

Otamendi and Kompany are City’s best bet at centre half

Manchester City’s performance was sometimes so comfortable that it erased the opening 10 minutes of either half that saw Kiev at their most effective and Andriy Yarmolenko demonstrating why Everton were prepared to pay big money for him. Then, Nicolas Otamendi and Vincent Kompany were at their calmest – something that could not be said of the man to their left, Gaël Clichy. Both made exceptional interventions, which will have an impact on those who claim that the £42m spent on Eliaquim Mangala might eventually be justified.

It’s a lot easier when you don’t draw Barcelona

It used to be one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s articles of faith that it did not matter whether you finished first or second in your group. Having been eliminated by Barcelona in the round of 16 for two successive seasons, Pellegrini might beg to differ.

Dynamo Kiev’s finest player, Yarmolenko, ensured that this was not the cakewalk it might have appeared at the interval but the fact remains that along with the 3-1 win at Seville this was perhaps Manchester City’s finest display of the season. It may not be coincidence that Toure, Fernando and Fernandinho, who was deployed surprisingly and intelligently on the right, were all part of the midfield that romped to victory in the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan and in the Olympic Stadium.