Manchester City rounded of their Champions League group stage campaign with a facile 3-0 win over Olympique Marseille at Etihad Stadium on Wednesday. After a goalless first half, the contest was brought to life by Ferran Torres who scored the opener before the returning Sergio Aguero doubled the lead and then Raheem Sterling put a gloss with a strike of his own in the stoppage time.
Marseille kept their rivals at bay in the first half as hoped to secure a spot in the Europa League. However, they wilted under sustained pressure from Pep Guardiola’s side which ended up securing the top spot in Group C.
City had made as many as nine changes from the team that defeated Fulham 2-0 in Premier League on Saturday. And the team still proved to be a handful for their French opponents.
One big positive for City was the return of their all-time leading scorer Aguero from injury who had missed the start of the season due to a knee injury and then suffered another setback when a hamstring issue cut short his comeback.
He was introduced as a substitute in the second half and celebrated with a goal 10 minutes after coming onto the field.
City will be gearing up for their PL clash with rivals Manchester United this Saturday but Guardiola has ruled out Aguero from the derby.
“His (Aguero) instinct to score will always be there,” Guardiola said. “He had three or four training sessions, his reaction was good. He played 25 minutes and scored a goal but it’s step-by-step. The most important thing is his reaction tomorrow.”
The Spaniard was though happy with his team’s performance.
“I’m really happy for the way we played in all the games without exception. We scored goals and we conceded few. Now it’s time to celebrate and tomorrow I am going to think about the Premier League and the derby. We have two days to think about it,” he said.