Manchester City's David Pizarro (C) celebrates his goal
against Porto with David Silva (L) and Edin Dzeko during
their Europa League second leg match at the Etihad Stadium
in Manchester. REUTERS/Darren Staples
Holders Porto have crashed out of the Europa League after
a 4-0 thumping at Manchester City completed a 6-1 aggregate win
for the English Premier League leaders.
Trailing 2-1 from the home leg, the Portuguese side's hopes
of reaching the last 16 were dealt a crushing blow after 19
seconds at a sodden Etihad Stadium when Sergio Aguero fired
City into the lead.
On the night that coach Roberto Mancini said outcast striker
Carlos Tevez could return in two or three weeks after
apologising for his recent poor behaviour, Aguero produced a
dazzling display that proved City have ample firepower even
without his fellow Argentine.
He created a second for substitute Edin Dzeko after 76
minutes as City finished off Porto with a flourish.
Late goals by David Silva and recent signing David Pizarro
flattered Mancini's side who did not have things all their
own way but never looked in danger of losing.
Porto finished the match with a 10 men after Rolando was
shown a second yellow card for voicing his opinion that
Dzeko's goal should have been ruled offside.
"It was a good night but not easy - Porto are one of the top
teams in Europe and played very well. I'm happy we're going
into the next stage," Mancini told a news conference.
"We want to get to the final if possible but it will be
difficult. With teams like United, Valencia and Schalke in,
it's like the Champions League.
"The early goal was important because Porto played very well,
they're a very strong team. We had other chances to score,
but when you don't score you can have some problems."
The match was moved to Wednesday because Manchester United
are in Europa League action in the city on Thursday against
Ajax Amsterdam and it kicked off early so as not to clash
with the evening's Champions League fixtures.
City will play Legia Warsaw or Sporting Lisbon, who meet on
Thursday, in the last 16.
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