Kevin De Bruyne scored 4 goals as City thrashed Wolves 5-1 to move within four points of the Premier League title.
City’s midfield maestro had completed his hat-trick with just 24 minutes on the clock, added another on the hour and Raheem Sterling scored a late fifth to cap a memorable night in the Black Country.
WHAT HAPPENED?
The game began at breakneck speed, with City looking threatening every time the ball was in the Wolves half, but the hosts looking dangerous on the counterattack.
De Bruyne nearly slid Phil Foden in for the opener with barely two minutes played, but his low cross had too much pace on it.
Five minutes later, City were ahead and it was a beautiful move started by De Bruyne who picked up a loose clearance, found Bernardo and then ran into space for the Portuguese to play a weighted return pass that the Belgian raced on to before drilling an angled shot past the keeper.
But Wolves roared back and having already been denied by a superb Aymeric Laporte tackle in an attack just minutes earlier, equalised within four minutes as Jimenez set Neto clear and his low ball was turned in by Dendoncker.
The home fans celebrated wildly, but De Bruyne was having none of it and six minutes after that he restored City’s lead.
He tried to find Sterling in the box, but the pass was slightly overhit – no matter because as Jose Sa spilled the ball, it was De Bruyne who was first to react, lashing a fierce shot into the top left corner to make it 2-1.
Eight minutes after that, he did it again, collecting the ball on the right, drifting into the middle before drilling a low left-foot shot into the bottom left corner from 20 yards.
It was breath-taking stuff from a player who has been shifting through the gears like a Rolls Royce as the months have passed by.
That was that for the first half, but the Blues looked to have wrapped up victory a couple of minutes after the restart, only for Sterling’s goal to be flagged offside.
Wolves continued to look dangerous whenever they came forward and there was a real scare on 55 when Laporte lay on the turf after Jimenez fell into his knee.
Pep Guardiola looked on anxiously – what he needed was his team to find a fourth goal to all-but secure victory – and of course De Bruyne provided exactly that, drilling home from close range when the ball fell kindly for him from Foden’s attempt to find Sterling.
It was his day, make no mistake.
Laporte was taken off shortly after – let’s hope it was as a precaution more than anything else.
In the time that remained, Ederson made superb save, Foden and Sterling hit the post and City passed up several opportunities to increase the margin of victory.
But Sterling finally got his goal on 84 minutes following a sweeping move that ended with Jack Grealish’s clever assist to complete the rout.
And only a coat of paint denied De Bruyne a fifth as he rattled the post in the dying moments.
