Guardiola: Man City clever to buy Sterling

Pep Guardiola hailed Raheem Sterling in the wake of Manchester City’s 5-0 Champions League win over Steaua Bucharest and believes the club were clever to sign the England winger.

Sterling endured a difficult first season at City after joining from Liverpool and also failed to impress at Euro 2016 as England crashed out in the last 16 at the hands of Iceland.

He put in a sublime performance against Steaua, though, setting up two goals as well as winning a penalty, and Guardiola had nothing but praise for Sterling after the final whistle.

“Sterling has a lot of quality, he’s fast, has a good work ethic,” Guardiola told reporters.

“He’s a fantastic player. That’s why Manchester City were so clever to buy him last season.

“Now Sterling is playing really good. But he’s young and has to learn a lot.”

City have all but qualified for the group stages after comfortably winning the first leg of the play-off tie and Guardiola was understandably pleased with their display, in which Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick after missing two penalties.

“We are almost in the Champions League [group stage]. That was our target,” he added.

“It was a great performance, great attitudes. The result is amazing.

“I am so satisfied with the way we played – a big compliment to these fantastic players. All the managers in the world want to create chances and concede few.”