The only notable thing about Manchester City’s Champions League round-of-16 second-leg tie with Sporting was just how much of a non-event it was.
Having romped to a 5-0 lead in the Portuguese capital last month, perhaps that was always likely to be the case but the return leg often looked like little more than a training exercise for the Premier League champions.
Clearly, City are an elite team and would likely dominate most opposition.
Still, the fact they can do treat the champions of a country rich in footballing tradition such as Portugal like little more than a plaything is really rather a depressing reflection on the modern game.
Sporting, to their credit, defended valiantly, albeit against a significantly weaker City to the one they encountered in Lisbon three weeks ago.
Raheem Sterling went closest in the first-half after a delightful ball around the corner from Phil Foden though his shot was well-saved by Antonio Adan.
The game threatened to come to life just seconds after the restart when Gabriel Jesus finished well from a tight angle, though VAR intervened to rule it out for offside.
Such was the level of City’s dominance, Pep Guardiola even opted to replace Ederson with Scott Carson for the final twenty minutes or so, perhaps the least decadent example of decadence possible in football.
City march through into the final eight after a Wednesday night in which we learned nothing.
