Stones masterclass proves he could yet fulfil Pep Guardiola’s vision

F or 64 minutes of Manchester City’s 7-0 shellacking of Leipzig John Stones was the defender-midfielder pivot of Pep Guardiola’s prophecy. Taken off at this juncture on Tuesday night to a rapturous reception from the Etihad Stadium faithful, Stones had returned the type of masterclass his manager identified he could offer when he made him his No 1 transfer target before taking over City in summer 2016.

Marco Rose’s visitors were overrun all evening. Erling Haaland hogged the headlines with his five-goal blitz, Kevin De Bruyne was a constant creative menace and Stones performed as a quasi-second Rodri, smoothly linking defence and attack as if operating in the mode for as a long as the Spaniard.

From the first whistle Stones left his right-back berth to drift inside and pass and receive, create space, pull Leipzig about and be the extra man that caused a midfield overload. The 28-year-old was spied as far from his official post as inside left, tapping the ball to Ilkay Gündogan, Jack Grealish, De Bruyne and company before, when his on-field sat-nav blinked red, racing back into position to help thwart any rare Leipzig foray.

Stones was the vision of a footballer Guardiola imagined seven years before. While Guardiola was still Bayern Munich head coach he had shown YouTube videos to the club executive of the then Everton defender, and informed those present at his Bavarian home that Stones was key to his plans.

The clips revealed a 21-year-old whose fluidity had him purring out from the back in possession, seeing a clear map of the game and selecting the right option with a schemer’s eyes. Then came a £47.5m transfer and problems. Stones proved injury bedevilled and performed unevenly, Guardiola offered intermittent