Kevin De Bruyne turned on the style with a brilliant double, and you could only marvel as Manchester City savaged Leeds 7-0 in the Premier League.
Long-time friends Pep Guardiola and Marcelo Bielsa watched with contrasting emotions from the touchline as City inflicted the biggest defeat Leeds have ever suffered in the competition.
Guardiola’s City were sensational, with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, John Stones and Nathan Ake joining De Bruyne on the scoresheet, City passing the 500-goal mark in the Premier League under their Spanish boss.
The pick of the goals was De Bruyne’s second and City’s fifth, as his land-to-air missile from 25 yards left Illan Meslier helpless, with City surging four points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table.
Foden made the eighth-minute breakthrough when he finished off from the edge of the penalty area after the rampaging Rodri was beaten in a dash to the ball by Leeds goalkeeper Meslier.
By that stage Bernardo Silva had already missed a sitter from in front of an open goal. Leeds were in disarray and trailed 2-0 inside 13 minutes when Grealish headed in Riyad Mahrez’s whipped cross from the right – his first headed goal in his Premier League career.
De Bruyne made it 3-0 in the 32nd minute, a classy finish on his left foot from Rodri’s throughball. Foden then shot fractionally wide of the right post, with Meslier beaten, before seeing another shot blocked by Luke Ayling, as City looked to boost their goal difference.
Mahrez gave City a fourth in the 49th minute, a deflection off Junior Firpo diverting the Algerian’s skidding shot wide of the unlucky Meslier and into the left corner.
Foden prodded in from Mahrez’s pass but was inches offside; however, a fifth City goal arrived emphatically in the 62nd minute when De Bruyne smashed high and handsome into the net from distance.
Stones lashed in the sixth and fellow defender Ake headed goal number seven as City outclassed despairing visitors.
What does it mean? City relentless, Leeds powerless
Guardiola, whose team had scored 499 goals in 206 Premier League games during his reign leading up to this game, fielded essentially a front five here. Silva was the one who missed out on a goal, as the quintet swarmed a Leeds defence that had no answer to their collective quality.
In the 568th game of his club managerial career, Leeds boss Bielsa saw a team under his charge concede seven goals for the first time. City’s goal difference took a major boost, and they are now just two behind Liverpool in that regard.
Revenge tastes sweet
Leeds pulled off one of the all-time opportunist smash-and-grabs in this game last season, scoring with their only two shots to snatch a 2-1 victory, winning despite the expected goals (xG) count favouring City by 2.2 to 0.1.
Yet Leeds had not won consecutive away league games against City since 1987, and this could be filed under ‘payback’. The hosts led the shot count 31-6, while Leeds had just 35.6 per cent of possession, by far their lowest share this season.
A super score for De Bruyne
De Bruyne’s second of the night was his 20th Premier League goal to be scored from outside the penalty area – no player has scored more such goals in the competition since De Bruyne’s September 2015 City debut, with Harry Kane next in line with 19 for Tottenham.
What’s next?
A trip to lowly Newcastle United awaits City on Sunday, while Leeds, sorely in need of a pick-me-up, have a home clash with Arsenal on Saturday.
