Man City Champions League blitz is perfect result for Manchester derby preparation

Riyad Mahrez has racked up nine goals and four assists in his last nine games for Manchester City.

And after proving last season that he is the man for the big occasion, by having a big influence in the quarter-final and semi-final games against Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, Mahrez has re-asserted his importance after being behind Gabriel Jesus in the pecking order at the start of the season.

He was unplayable at times in last night's win at Sporting Lisbon, scoring the first - his 17th of the season - delivering the corner for Bernardo Silva's fabulous second and then claiming another assist for Phil Foden.

He is one goal away from his career-best for a season - when Leicester won the title in 2015-16.

With City cruising at 5-0 with an hour gone, Guardiola was able to start looking ahead to Saturday’s game against Spurs, and keep the harmony in his squad, by sending on Ilkay Gundogan, Aleks Zincheko and Nathan Ake, all unlucky not to be in the team.

The size of the win also means that City can focus on the Manchester derby, three days before the second leg, without worrying too much about rotation.

The second leg gives Guardiola the option of giving more minutes to his understudy players, and possibly a youngster or two.

There were a fair few Benfica fans in the crowd at the Alvalade, enjoying the dominance of their graduates Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo and Ederson.

Cancelo diplomatically said before the game that the bitter rivalry between Sporting and his old club, their cross-town rivals, was not an issue as they were playing for City.

But the Portuguese contingent clearly enjoyed rubbing salt in the wounds.

Pedro Porro turned out for Sporting against the club that owns his registration