The eyes of most neutrals across Europe were trained on events at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday, as Paris Saint-Germain faced Real Madrid in the Galacticos derby.
Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema, Angel Di Maria, Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar. Superstars everywhere you look.
Alas, Madrid parked the limos and a cagey encounter ensued until Mbappe spared Messi’s penalty blushes at the death
Meanwhile, in Lisbon, the most technically brilliant football team on the planet were getting through their dazzling work.
There is no more skilful collection of footballers anywhere than Pep Guardiola’s current squad at Manchester City - as these moments to savour in the 5-0 evisceration of Sporting showed.
The man with the velvet touch
Okay, so there’s barely a City game that passes nowadays without us swooning over Riyad Mahrez’s first touch. But seriously, have you seen it? Put it in the Louvre.
In the build-up to the seventh-minute opener, where Mahrez was the eventual beneficiary of a move that shifted from right to left, Ruben Dias sent a high ball spiralling towards the Algerian's flank. It dropped over his shoulder, he thrust out that delectable left boot and killed it stone dead. Majestic.
King Kev
City quickly looked to add a second and Kevin De Bruyne did that thing where he turns a fairly dangerous situation for opponents into a squealing Code Red.
It was one of those glorious KDB passes, where he sees the whole landscape and paints it perfectly. A sweeping ball out to Raheem Sterling ended with marauding makeshift right-back John Stones heading fractionally wide.
Bernardo Golazo!
Bernardo Silva’s volley to crowd a perfect counter-attack at Aston Villa probably remains City’s goal of the season. But in terms of pure technical excellence, this strike really was something else.
As with most of his key contributions, Bernardo’s relentless workrate played a role as he scampered around to the back post and met De Bruyne’s partially-cleared corner on the half-volley. How he managed to strike the ball with such venom while keeping it low enough to clatter in via the crossbar beggared belief.
Phil’s got the feel
Phil Foden has started to specialise in a pretty niche and oxymoronical type of goal - the technically brilliant tap-in.
After his deft drag back allowed him to smuggle home from close range against Norwich on Saturday, the England star collected Mahrez’s low cross as Sebastian Coates lost his footing. Foden showed under-rated strength to hold off some close attention and a cute feint with his right foot to sit down goalkeeper Antonio Adan before finishing was a low-key piece of brilliance.
Raheem in on the act
Sterling’s high-octane approach means he can sometimes look a little rough around the edges in a team full of stylists, but his sumptuous 58th-minute curler from 25 yards was of the highest quality.
The England winger now has 150 club goals and 127 for City, moving into the club’s all-time top 10 scorers. Few if any of that haul rank above this one.
Silky Ilkay
Having watched his team-mates make merry, Ilkay Gundogan decided to come off the bench and produced a magical moment without even touching the ball.
The midfielder’s vision and awareness to pull off a delightful dummy that sent Sterling scampering towards a beleaguered Sporting defence was another spellbinding moment in a game full of them.
What was your favourite moment in City's 5-0 thrashing of Sporting? Follow City Is Ours editor Dom Farrell on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
