FC BASEL 0, MANCHESTER CITY 4
It was game over just a quarter of way through this contest in Switzerland as Manchester City raced into a 3-0 lead within 23 minutes through goals by Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, and Sergio Aguero before Gundogan’s second half strike effectively put an end to tonight’s match, and perhaps the tie, with a 4-0 away victory at St Jakob Park.
With a trip to Wigan coming up next Monday in the FA Cup City could not afford to underestimate the Swiss side who defeated Manchester United last November. They had given Basel respect by fielding a strong side and clinical finishing put them in full control of the tie very quickly.
Following an electric second half against Leicester City in a game which City won 5-1, Pep Guardiola made just two changes for the game against Basel with club captain returning in place of Aymeric Laporte and Fabian Delph returned from injury to displace Oleksandr Zinchenko while David Silva and Leroy Sane were named on the bench.
Ilkay Gundogan was denied by Basel goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik who tipped his header over the bar after four minutes but subsequently went on to have a mare in the first half.
Basel had a lucky escape but would come to rue wasting a massive chance in the 6th minute when Dimitri Oberlin found himself clean through after a long ball over the top by Blas Riberos.
Ederson came off his line quickly to put Oberlin off but the striker panicked and only prodded his effort allowing Nicolas Otamendi to recover and clear the ball.
A second chance went begging as Oberlin went past Otamendi and the pair had a coming together in the area which could very well have earned a penalty for the home side but wasn’t given, much to the disgust of home fans.
It was too late to rue those chances for Basel as City upped the tempo and Gundogan scored with another header at the unguarded near post to beat the stranded Czech keeper, this time from Kevin De Bruyne’s in-swinging corner, ten minutes later.
Four minutes later De Bruyne released Raheem Sterling who attacked his flank and produced a deflected cross over Aguero which fell nicely for Bernardo Silva who volleyed the ball beyond Vaclik for his fifth strike of the season.
Aguero got in on the act with his 29th goal of the season – his 14th goal of 2018 – after Fernandinho was tackled but the ball fell to the Argentine who elected to quickly shoot from outside the box leaving Vaclik flat-footed and Basel three goals down after just 23 minutes.
With the game already put to bed and despite both sides continuing to attack, City eased off and took more control of the game.
Ederson was called into action to acrobatically tip away a chance from Mohamed Elyounoussi as Basel tried to craft anything against their opponents with Oberlin’s battle with Nicolas Otamendi a high point for them despite being relatively unproductive after a promising start.
Instead, it was 4-0 after 53 minutes as Aguero drew defenders towards him with a run with the ball before unselfishly squaring it to Gundogan who elegantly swept the ball home from distance for his second of the night – his fourth goal of the season – and City’s fourth on a night of utter control.
They were so in control that Guardiola elected to give Raheem Sterling a breather, bringing on Leroy Sane who had made an amazing recovery from his injury at Cardiff on January 28 after which he was expected to miss up to six or seven weeks but instead was back after just 16 days.
David Silva replaced Kevin De Bruyne after 63 minutes – hardly a sight for the tired legs of Basel’s players – and the Spanish playmaker who was set up by Aguero for a shot shortly after he came on but blazed well wide.
Basel refused to be ignored by City and Oberlin’s header from Valentin Stocker’s cross went wide and Elyounoussi had several chances to threaten but wasted them before the Basel striker tried again as City tried to slow the pace down.
These were chances that might have been put away by better Champions League sides but City will have had a valuable rest in the last quarter of the game.
The game had slowed down in the second half but Sane was alert and won the ball, feeding Aguero who ran at the Swiss and pulled the ball back to Gundogan who must thought he had secured his hat trick with 16 minutes to go but Vaclik dived on the ball to deny the German.
Undeterred, City still went for it and Sane and Aguero combined well but were denied by some last ditch Basel defending as the game’s glowing embers were fanned by late City attacks.
Danilo replaced Aguero for the last five minutes in Switzerland as City finally took their foot off the gas with the Champions League quarter finals in plain sight.
There was still time for late controversy as Serey Die was booked for a foul on Gundogan who reacted angrily at the clumsy challenge in light of recent major injuries to City players and his own injury-hit past.