Man City 5-2 CSKA Moscow: City into knockout stage

Aguero double breaks Lees Euro record. Picture: Getty

Scorers: Manchester City - Aguero (3 pen, 20), Negredo (30, 51, 90); CSKA Moscow - Doumbia (45, 71 pen)

Referee: CV Carballo (Spain)

Attendance: 43,000

The result never seemed in doubt after Aguero hit his first from the penalty spot in the third minute at the Etihad Stadium and the in-form hosts were 3-0 up after an hour.

Seydou Doumbia twice disrupted City’s flow with a goal on the stroke of half-time and a 71st-minute penalty for CSKA, but Manuel Pellegrini’s men were not threatened and secured qualification for the first time with two games to spare.

After exits at the group stages in each of the past two seasons, the result represented the next major step forward in City’s development.

After the meeting between the two clubs in the Russian capital a fortnight ago was soured by racist chanting aimed at Yaya Toure, there was also focus on the crowd.

And the Ivory Coast international was quick to applaud City’s supporters for their behaviour on the night.

“It’s amazing, I think it’s deserved by the club. We go through to the second round for the first time and it’s unbelievable,” said Toure.

“I thought we played amazingly well today and we have to say thank you to the fans as well. They showed to the fans of CSKA how supportive our fans are.

“We are happy with the win today and I think today is a special day for the fans and for the club as well.” On the field, City were quickly into their stride, with England goalkeeper Joe Hart again on the bench as manager Pellegrini opted to continue with Costel Pantilimon.

Less than two minutes had gone when David Silva tricked his way into the CSKA box and was brought down by former Manchester United player Zoran Tosic. Aguero clinically dispatched the penalty to move clear of Francis Lee as City’s record goalscorer in Europe.

Aguero’s second came as he took a Samir Nasri pass and brilliantly turned Aleksei Berezutski with a deft touch before guiding a shot past Igor Akinfeev.

Negredo claimed the third on the half-hour as he received a perfect return pass from Aguero to tap in from six yards.

An Aguero overhead kick was blocked and Negredo narrowly failed to turn in another good cross from his strike partner.

CSKA broke the procession on the stroke of half-time as Pontus Wernbloom split the City defence with a superb through-ball and Doumbia glided around Pantilimon to pull one back.

City resumed normal service in the second half as Nasri met a Toure long ball with a superb first-time pass that gifted Negredo another tap-in.

But they had a jolt as Gael Clichy tripped Doumbia who got up to send Pantilimon the wrong way from the spot.

City grabbed the fifth goal their superiority deserved as Negredo wrapped up the scoring in injury time by heading home a cross from James Milner to complete his hat-trick.