Man City 4 - 0 Porto (Agg: 6-1): City in it to win it as they thrash Porto

David Pizarro makes it four. Picture: PA

Published on Thursday 23 February 2012 02:54

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany believes he and his team-mates showed that they are in the Europa League to win the competition after they thrashed Porto to reach the last 16.

A first-minute goal from Sergio Aguero set City on their way to seal a 6-1 aggregate triumph, with late strikes from Edin Dzeko, David Silva and David Pizarro inflicting further damage at the Etihad.

Kompany said afterwards: “It was a great victory. I think today showed how serious we are about this competition.

“Four-nil is a great result against the holders of the competition from last season. I didn’t think we were at our best but we did exactly what we needed to.”

Aguero’s early goal effectively killed off the tie, another valuable strike from the Argentinian who joined City last summer.

“This is his first season,” Kompany added. “He is doing so many great things for the team.”

Aguero was played through by Yaya Toure and slipped the ball low past Helton. City put the result beyond doubt by going 4-1 up on aggregate when substitute Dzeko collected a fine ball from Aguero and finished with confidence. It quickly became a double blow for Porto as Rolando, who had been booked early in the game, was shown a second yellow card as City celebrated – perhaps for protesting too much for offside.

City wrapped up the game in style as Silva added a third after 84 minutes after substitutes Pizarro and Dzeko combined to provide a tap-in. Another followed two minutes later as Pizarro again linked up with Dzeko and broke into the box to slam past Helton for his first goal for the club.

Pointing out the threat City possess, and the abundance of scoring opportunities they had tonight, Kompany added: “It just shows we always create chances. The strikers have a lot of fun up front. I don’t think our team has ever been stronger.”

City manager Roberto Mancini added: “We played a good game. Maybe 4-0 was too much but it was important we went into the second stage. Porto had lots of possession and it’s not easy to play against them.”

The Italian was also pleased for Pizarro, adding: “I know him very well, he was with me at Inter. He came on for 20 minutes, played very well and scored a goal. His experience can be very important for us.”

On their future prospects in the competition, Mancini added: “We want to get to the final.It will be difficult but for this reason I will play the best team, although we can make some changes every game.”

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