Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick and Kelechi Iheanacho contributed with a goal against Borussia Monchengladbach to get Manchester City off to a winning start in their Champions League Group C campaign on Wednesday night.
It did not take long for City to go in front as Aguero, who is currently serving a three-match domestic ban, got the ball rolling by stabbing it home from six yards out after getting on the end of Aleksandar Kolarov’s low cross.
City had a penalty denied a few minutes later when Tobias Strobl appeared to pull Aguero’s shirt in the box, but referee Bjorn Kuipers was unmoved by the incident.
A penalty eventually came in just shy of the half-hour mark when Gundogan was clipped just inside the line, and it was Aguero who doubled his team’s lead by sending the keeper the wrong way.
Gladbach had little chances in the first half, but they did force a save from Claudio Bravo close to the whistle when Lars Stindl unleashed a shot in the box, but the keeper saved.
After the break, City went searching for another goal quickly, but they squandered an opportunity in a comedy of errors – from both teams – as Sommer made a blunder when he pushed the ball into Raheem Sterling’s path when making a save at his near post.
Sterling had an opportunity to top off his impressive display with a goal when he went one on one with the keeper, but his attempted nutmeg ended up with the ball coming off Sommer’s leg and trickling wide of the post.
The final 20 minutes turned into somewhat of an exhibition match as Gladbach rarely threatened and City continued to pepper the opponent’s goal.
Aguero finally got his hat-trick when he received a perfectly-weighted through-ball from Sterling and dummied the keeper before rolling the ball calmly into the back of the net.
In the end, it was a dominant display from City, whose next European fixture will be against Celtic.
