Shakhtar Donetsk 0-3 Manchester City: Mahrez, Gundogan and Jesus score in comfortable victory

Manchester City became the only Premier League side to win in the opening week of the Champions League with a dominant 3-0 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk.

City disposed of a team they have faced numerous times in recent editions of this tournament thanks to two goals in the first half and a solitary strike after half-time

Riyad Mahrez converted from close range after Ilkay Gundogan’s effort hit the post, before the German midfielder doubled their lead seven minutes before the break and Gabriel Jesus made it three with 15 minutes left.

City’s new centre-back pairing of Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho - forced together due to John Stones and Aymeric Laporte’s injures - were barely tested on an ideal opening matchday for Pep Guardiola

His side dominated from the off even if they didn’t create a whole host of clear-cut chances before taking the lead.

Rodri got a header all wrong in the first minutes, before Gundogan bent a shot wide and Jesus was unable to make the most of two openings.

The lead came when Jesus set up Gundogan, whose powerful effort hit the inside post and cannoned into the path of Mahrez. He made no mistake.

Ederson’s first real action saw him come off his line to smother an effort from Moreas, before Gundogan gave City breathing space at the end of a neat move.

Mahrez took the ball in from the touchline and slipped the ball through for Gundogan, who poked the ball into the back of the net.

Kevin De Bruyne should have made it three on the stroke of half-time, but could only find the side-netting after a Jesus through ball.

Shakhtar were nearly gifted a route back into the game on 55 minutes as Ederson rushed off his line to try and intercept a long ball, but Moreas could not direct a difficult chance on target.

City then passed up their own good chance, after Gundogan’s soft effort was saved a poor clearance went straight to Sterling. He failed to get the ball under control at the first time of asking and when he did, his shot smashed the outside of the post from a tight angle.

The second half saw wave after wave of City attacks and the only surprise was that they took so long to add to their total. De Bruyne fired an effort wide, Otamendi had a goal disallowed for offside and numerous times the final ball let them down.

With 15 minutes left, they finally made it 3-0. A textbook counter-attack saw De Bruyne slip in Jesus, who made no mistake in beating Pyatov and finding the bottom corner.

City host Dinamo Zagreb in two weeks’ time, who sprung one of the surprises of the opening fixtures with a 4-0 home win over Atalanta. Before that, they have a home game with Watford, trip to Everton and a Carabao Cup clash at Preston.

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