Ilkay Gundogan double sees Manchester City put one step into Champions League quarter-finals after thrashing of FC Basel

FC Basel 0 Manchester City 4: Gundogan scored twice while Aguero and Bernardo added the others

Manchester City did not struggle as United did in Basel (Getty Images)

Away games are meant to be difficult, especially in the knock-out rounds of the Champions League, but this Manchester City team are no longer playing by football’s usual rules. Here in Basel they turned a challenge into an exhibition, controlling the whole match and recording a 4-0 win that should really have been six or seven.

What was so impressive about it was that City did exactly what Guardiola promised they would try to do, imposing their game on the opposition in their home ground. This is a Swiss fortress, the national stadium, but City took control in the first half and never let go. The noisy home crowd and the freezing temperatures made not the slightest bit of a difference.

Nor did a competitive opponent who beat Manchester United here back in November. This was, for want of a better phrase, typical City, their 16th away win of a remarkable season. Anyone who saw them win 4-0 at Feyenoord, 6-0 at Watford or 4-0 at Swansea City – or any number of narrower wins – will have recognised it instantly.

This kills the return leg at the Etihad Stadium on 7 March and effectively puts Manchester City into the quarter-finals. They will have to play far better teams than Basel but then when City went to Manchester United and Chelsea this season, they dominated and won those games too. Of course they are not unbeatable anywhere – just ask Liverpool – but it takes a brilliant team, at home, on top their own insatiable game to knock City off their stride.

Vincent Kompany said before this game that the City players are not thinking about the quadruple, simply about re-setting and focussing for every single game they play. But they are playing so well as a team now – the patterns so ingrained, the execution so precise - that Wigan Athletic on Monday, the Carabao Cup final at Wembley and then a busy March should not hold too many worries for City.

What was so impressive about this City performance was that it was not like Sergio Aguero’s four-goal binge against Leicester City on Saturday, or any number of barely believable Kevin de Bruyne masterclasses this season. This was a proper team performance, everyone working in unison, keeping the ball and cutting Basel open with almost every attack.

De Bruyne and Bernardo linked well (Bongarts/Getty Images)

The stand-out player was Ilkay Gundogan, who came into this season after nine months out injured but is now finally finding his rhythm again. There is no such thing in football as a David Silva replacement , but Gundogan’s movement and control has given City back something in the middle of the pitch. He nearly scored a header after two minutes, nodded City in front soon after anyway, curled in the sumptuous fourth and should have completed his hat-trick at the end.

The weight of games has started to tell on some of these players recently but here City welcomed back three first-teamers to lighten the load ahead of another crunch month. Fabian Delph has been out for a month with a knee injury but returned at left-back and played the full 90 minutes. David Silva, out for two weeks, came on for De Bruyne for the last half hour. And Leroy Sane, just 16 days after injuring ankle ligaments in Cardiff, played 35 minutes, defying the initial diagnosis. All of a sudden the City squad looks stocked again.

Bernardo impressed as he opened the scoring (AFP/Getty Images)

And yet despite all of this, the dominance and the eventual result, there were two moments in the first 10 minutes when it fleetingly felt as if City might be in for a test here. All the space they leave in behind was exploited by Dimitri Oberlin, who raced onto one through ball, beat Ederson to it, but skewed his finish. The next time Oberlin was through, Nicolas Otamendi flattened him in the box but went unpunished.

But there is no other team like City when it comes to turning it on and ripping a game away from the opposition before they even realise what has happened. That is what happened here, with three goals in a nine-minute spell that ended the whole contest.

City are all but in the quarter-finals (Bongarts/Getty Images)

The first was from a set piece, as De Bruyne whipped in a corner from the left, Gundogan darted to the near post away from Fabian Frei and angled his header up into the net.

The second was a more classical City incisive move, cutting through Basel’s deep 5-4-1 arrangement. Raheem Sterling ran down the left, released by De Bruyne, and crossed to the far post. There was Bernardo Silva, with the time and poise to take the ball down and volley it back past Tomas Vaclik, dipping through the Basel keeper and in.

Two away goals in five minutes is as dispiriting as it gets, and the Basel’s players’ heads dropped, and the third followed. Fernandinho stormed through the middle, and when he was eventually tackled by Leo Lacroix the ball fell to Aguero. 25 yards out, he still had enough time to pick his spot in the bottom corner, as Marek Suchy just lazily turned his back.

And when you have your opponent pinned like this, why would you let up? City just continued to play the same way in the second half, pressing, passing, attacking, trying to drag the game as far away from Basel as they could. And it worked, and nine minutes after the restart they had their fourth. Aguero drove forward and found Gundogan on the edge of the box. He controlled the ball with his first touch, took it away from Frei with his second then curled it into the far top corner of the net with his third.

There were a few second-half chances for Basel, and Ederson made two saves, but City were always likelier to keep scoring. Gundogan should have had a third, but De Bruyne and Sterling were rested as City turned their hungry attention to the DW Stadium and Monday night. Maybe not an easy place to go, but playing like this City can go wherever they want.