Man City 3-0 Bayern Munich: Pep's side take complete control of Champions League quarter-final as second-half strikes from Silva and Haaland seal first-leg win after Rodri's stunning opener 

Thrilling, deadly, clinical and at times irresistible. This is the combination that Manchester City brought to what was supposed to be the toughest fixture of their season so far.

By the end, Bayern Munich had been brought to their knees and it is a feeling that many who leave this stadium will know very well.

Bayern were well in this game for so long. For a period in the first half and for another one at the start of the second, the German champions and six-time winners were marginally the better team. At times City goalkeeper Ederson seemed engaged in a personal one-on-one dual with former team-mate Leroy Sane. It was a competition the Brazilian won and he needed to.

But still Bayern were beaten. By the end they were well-beaten and indeed hanging on desperately to their dignity as City’s huge and powerful waves crashed upon their shores.

And this is what a City team featuring such extravagantly gifted attacking players they can do. They can engage one of the best teams in Europe in a game of football that for long periods can seem rather nip and tuck and still emerge as clear winners.

Their goals were marvellous. Rodri’s 25-yard shot was a thing of geometrical beauty in the first half. Erling Haaland’s chipped cross to allow Bernardo Silva to head in with 20 minutes left was just very clever. And Haaland’s own goal, six or seven minutes later, was born of a collective team desire to bully an opponent when they were at their weakest.

And it is that one that will probably make the difference when these teams reconvene in Munich next week. Not that City will necessarily need a three-goal cushion to win the tie. No, it’s not that. It’s that Thomas Tuchel’s players know now that they require something simply quite special – rather than merely unlikely – to extend their run in this year’s competition beyond the quarter-final stage.

City manager Pep Guardiola will fret over Kevin de Bruyne’s knee in the coming days. The Belgian got his studs stuck in the turf in the second half and had to come off. But, that apart, this was a perfect night for the English champions. If they weren’t favourites before this game to win the Champions League this season then they will be now.

It was what some may call a typical Manchester night but for the best part of half an hour it was very much an atypical City performance. Until Rodri’s wonderful goal in the 27th minute, City were as flat as the night was wet. But one of the great things about Guardiola’s team — indeed most of them down the years — is the ability to strike and kill almost from nowhere. That was what happened here.

Indeed Bayern had almost scored themselves just a minute earlier. A mistake from City defender Manuel Akanji by his right touchline allowed them to steal the ball and when Jamal Musiala picked up possession on the edge of the penalty area, City looked to be in deep trouble. Musiala shot low and true and City goalkeeper Ederson appeared flat-footed. But central defender Ruben Dias was switched on and able to divert the ball away with his right ankle.

It felt like an important intervention at the time and so it transpired. City moved the ball up the field almost immediately and when Rodri eased inside on to his left foot 35 yards from goal, space opened up before him. The Spaniard was perhaps not the player his manager or indeed City’s supporters would have chosen to let rip from distance on a night when the ball possessed such soap-like qualities.

But Rodri made fools of us all and indeed of Bayern’s Joshua Kimmich, who chose not to close him down properly, by using the opposition captain as a target to curl the ball round. Once he had managed that, it was destined for the top corner and Bayern goalkeeper Yann Sommer did not stand an earthly.

At that point, it was not a lead that City necessarily deserved. It had been a cagey game. Erling Haaland — no longer sporting the plait he had worn at training the previous day — was not able to beat Sommer when a Grealish flick had set him up. That was a weak effort by his own standards.

Earlier on, meanwhile, he had threatened to rob Sommer of possession as he dawdled on his own goal line. Sommer moved the ball on just in time.

Bayern had been methodical without being particularly expressive. Before the goal they had been comfortable but immediately after it they were not.

Buoyed by their breakthrough, City began to play quicker and more incisive football and when Grealish was not penalised for what seemed to be a leap into the goalkeeper’s ribs in the 34th minute, Sommer somehow flung out a foot while on the floor to divert Gundogan’s follow-up over the bar. It was a remarkable save.

Bayern eased forward just before half-time and this time they carried menace. Leroy Sane, once of City, was inches away from the far post as he drove a shot across goal from the right-hand side of the penalty area. The winger seemed intent on dragging his current club level all on his own.

There was more space for him in which to operate down the Bayern left than Guardiola would have wished and twice he eased forward to deliver shots from distance that Ederson did well to beat away. Then, in the 54th minute, Sane appeared down the right side to cut in and shoot again from outside the box. Once again Ederson was his equal but the Bayern threat was growing.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half, they were in the ascendency. Grealish had to be diligent to track back and deflect a cross over the bar, and twice from the corner that followed Bayern were close with headers. The first one, from Matthijs de Ligt, looked destined for the net before Nathan Ake headed it away.

For City the storm was real and they did well to ride it out. They continued to present a threat of their own. How could they not with so much attacking talent? And when Ake drove a shot towards the near post on the hour, Sommer did well to save.

While all this was going on, Kevin De Bruyne left the field. The Belgian had slipped by the near touchline and seemed to hyper-extend his knee. That is how ligaments are damaged. De Bruyne tried to play on but could not.

As the game entered its final 20 minutes or so, City would have taken a one-goal win. But once again the balance of the play shifted and Guardiola’s team swooped twice to take real control of the tie in six electric minutes.

The first goal was a disaster for Bayern defender Dayot Upamecano. Robbed by Grealish as he attempted to carry the ball out in the 70th minute, the City player backheeled to Haaland who crossed cleverly for Silva to head in.

It felt like a killer play but better was to come. In the 76th minute, City crossed deep to the far post from the right where John Stones headed back across goal for Haaland to volley in on the stretch.