Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Pep Guardiola said Manchester City played the best 45 minutes of his tenure as they cruised to a 3-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine on Tuesday.
City moved top of Champions League Group F with the win as goals from David Silva, Aymeric Laporte and second-half substitute Bernardo Silva gave capped a comfortable win.
The dominant performance gave Guardiola plenty of satisfaction.
"Our first half was the best first-half performance we have played in the last three seasons," said the Spaniard. "We created a lot of chances and didn't conceded any until the last few minutes.
"We were under a lot of pressure after the defeat by Lyon (in the first group game) but now we are in a good position. We can control our destiny now.
"We saw in the second half what Shakhtar Donetsk can do, but it's so important to get this result and we will enjoy tonight and in the next days this victory. We have recovered well from Lyon and now it's in our hands."
City were on top throughout the 90 minutes and created 24 chances, although only six were on target, leaving Guardiola to talk about the need to be more ruthless.
"In the last few games we shot more, but when I talk about chances to win the Champions League, and these kinds of things, we have to increase our average." he added. "We missed a lot of clear chances. When you arrive in the later stages we have to be more clinical. We have to be solid as a team, like we were in the first half, and it was good to see how we did it.
"The Champions League is a difficult competition. I'm so happy with the way we played after Burnley - travel, and to play with this personality. To score three against Shakhtar is an incredible result, amazing."
Shakhtar coach Paulo Fonseca was also impressed with the visitors.
“We have to admit that City were better tonight - much better,” he said. “They won in good style. Our players tried to play well and keep the ball, but it was not enough to stop a team like City.”
