Goals from Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva (2), Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling helped Manchester City to a convincing first-leg win away to Sporting in their round of 16 tie in Lisbon.

Manchester City scored five for the third time in this season’s UEFA Champions League as they brushed aside Sporting in a one-sided first-leg in Lisbon.

Riyad Mahrez grabbed the opener, an effort which was initially ruled out for offside before being overturned by VAR, before Bernardo Silva crashed a shot in off the crossbar.

Phil Foden prodded in a third and Silva struck again before the break as City took a strangehold on the tie with less than a quarter of it played.

Raheem Sterling curled in the fifth – the pick of the goals – just before the hour to give his side a big advantage ahead of next month’s second leg.

Not only did he score two goals – one of which was amazing – but it was a brilliant performance from the midfielder on his return to Lisbon. He moved forward to be a false 9 after Foden’s withdrawal and continued to be a threat. A superb performance.”

Sporting always knew this would be a huge challenge and that was quickly confirmed, the home side’s defence breached twice inside the first 20 minutes. With Pedro Porro and Ricardo Esgaio well shackled by João Cancelo and John Stones, Pep Guardiola’s plan thwarted Sporting’s attacking game and then, the world-class talent of City’s players did the rest. Like coach Rúben Amorim said yesterday, City are in university and Sporting in kindergarten.

City are often easy on the eye, but they don’t always score the goals to match their free-flowing football. In Lisbon, they did just that. Mahrez’s opener came at the end of a fabulous move and Sterling’s curling effort was a thing of beauty, but the pick of the bunch was Bernardo Silva’s sublime half-volley to make it 2-0. Guardiola said before the game that he wasn’t looking beyond the last 16, but the 51-year-old can surely start planning for a fifth successive quarter-final appearance.

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva:“It’s a very good performance. I honestly think in the first half we weren’t good enough to be 4-0 up. Sometimes we were a bit sloppy, but we were very clinical to score those goals with not so many chances. To win 5-0 away is a good result. I’m Portuguese, I’m from the other side of the city. My mum is Sporting, my dad is Benfica. It was special to score here in my home town.”

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola:“It’s just one game. We had a fantastic result. You have to have one more game to be in the quarter-finals. The players, they know me. The way we work, we can do better. I’m incredibly happy, please understand me, but we can do better.”