THERE will be further opportunities to win the Champions League, of course there will, but it’s difficult not to feel this may be Manchester City’s best shot as they are at the peak of their powers.
The stylish, sumptuous second-half display at Southampton was as ruthless as football can get while wrapped up as pure entertainment.
City weren’t at their best in the first half but led through Erling Haaland’s 45th-minute strike.
They stepped up a gear when asked and it looked for all the world as though they could have easily won by more than the final 4-1 scoreline if required.
Now the defending Premier League champions entertain Bayern Munich in a Champions League quarter-final first leg which looked a daunting prospect when it was drawn.
But Pep Guardiola has led his troops to eight straight wins and ten victories plus a couple of draws in all competitions since their last defeat, a 1-0 reversal at Tottenham at the beginning of February.
One of the two draws was at RB Leipzig in the previous round and they proceeded to thump them 7-0 in the return leg at the Etihad Stadium.
The winning sequence also includes the 4-1 demolition of Liverpool and the last time City were beaten in front of their home fans was a 2-1 defeat to Brentford in November when their players probably had one eye on the imminent World Cup.
Bayern, who have lost two of their last four matches, are now managed by former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel so their perfect record in this season’s competition under Julian Nagelsmann’s command doesn’t necessarily hold water.
Tuchel is a more cautious coach and may be happy to stay in contention for the second leg in Bavaria.
That could be a fatal strategy and City are not only worth backing to win at 4/5 with Betfred, they should be supported to do so by more than one goal at 21/10 with Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet.
Haaland is 13/5 with the first two firms to bag the opening goal while Jack Grealish, currently in fabulous form, is 13/2 with BetUK and Unibet to get on the scoresheet.
• 23/20 Benfica, who have won eight of their last night games, to beat Inter Milan, winners just once in their last eight matches, in tonight’s other quarter-final (William Hill)
• 13/10 Putney puncher Joe Joyce to strengthen his elite heavyweight boxing credentials by stopping New Jersey-based Chinese opponent Zhilei ‘Big Bang’ Zhang between rounds seven and 12 at the Copper Box in London on Saturday (Betfair)
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