Man City get VAR breakthrough in Champions League demolition job at Sporting

If Manchester City can keep VAR onside maybe their name will finally be on the trophy.

Pep Guardiola's side certainly showed in a 5-0 demolition of Sporting that they have all the tools needed to go all the way, but that has been the case for the last five years yet the Champions League still eludes one of the most dominant teams in Premier League history. The manager is bored of hearing about it but too often incredible consistency in the league has been met with an erratic European exit.

Can this year finally be the year? We have been here (and beyond) too many times in recent years to say. What was notable about the win over Sporting though was how VAR gave City what they deserved - in a good way.

The technology has been at the heart of two painful exits, its absence contributing to their defeat to Liverpool in 2018 before Raheem Sterling's winner against Tottenham was so cruelly (but correctly) ruled out. The way VAR has been used in the Premier League in City games has added to the irritation and frustration.

Here at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, however, came a change.

There wasn't a soul in the stadium that thought Riyad Mahrez had put City ahead in the seventh minute, with even Kevin De Bruyne accepting he was offside when he knocked the ball back to him from the edge of the pitch.

Only he wasn't. A lengthy VAR check that had seemed baffling suddenly produced a fundamental change in the game, with City and their fans delirious as their opponents tried to work out how it had happened. Guardiola's side sensed blood though, and brutally ended the tie inside 45 minutes with three further wonderful strikes.

First came Bernardo with a strike of breathtaking quality, smashing in so emphatically on the half-volley as