Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick and Kelechi Iheanacho contributed with a goal of his own against Borussia Monchengladbach to get Manchester City off to a winning start in their Champions League Group C campaign on Wednesday night.
The fixture was played 24 hours later than scheduled due to the Etihad Stadium pitch being waterlogged following torrential rain in the North-West city.
The delay did not affect Pep Guardiola's side, though, as Aguero scored three times - once from the penalty spot - in a comfortable 4-0 win, which was rounded off by substitute Iheanacho.
It was a breathless start to the match as City showed attacking intent from the off, and they came close to breaking through inside the opening six minutes when Kevin De Bruyne's corner was headed clear by Andreas Christensen.
It did not take long for City to go in front as Aguero, who is currently serving a three-match domestic ban, got the ball rolling by stabbing it home from six yards out after getting on the end of Aleksandar Kolarov's low cross.
After taking the lead, the hosts began to produce waves of attacks, one of which involved De Bruyne squaring the ball to Aguero in the box - it was poor defending from the hosts as they left the Argentine in acres of space.
The striker opted against going for goal, instead playing in debutant Ilkay Gundogan on the left, but the midfielder's strike towards the bottom right corner was stopped by goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
City had a penalty denied a few minutes later when Tobias Strobl appeared to pull Aguero's shirt in the box, but referee Bjorn Kuipers was unmoved by the incident.
A penalty was awarded just shy of the half-hour mark, though, when Gundogan was clipped just inside the line, and it was Aguero who doubled his team's lead by sending the keeper the wrong way.
Gladbach had few chances in the first half, but they did force a save from Claudio Bravo close to the whistle when Lars Stindl unleashed a shot in the box.
After the break, City went searching for another goal quickly, but they squandered an opportunity in a comedy of errors - from both teams - as Sommer made a blunder by pushing the ball into Raheem Sterling's path when making a save at his near post.
The England international played it back to Aguero, who had space to fire into the back of the net, but Sommer found his feet and managed to make a one-handed save.
The pace slowed down slightly in the second half as City went into cruise control, and even defenders Nicolas Otamendi and Pablo Zabaleta tried their luck from long range.
De Bruyne, who played a huge part in City's win over derby rivals Manchester United at the weekend, tried to add to the scoresheet when he unleashed a 22-yard strike, but the ball went directly to Sommer.
Sterling had an opportunity to top off his impressive display with a goal when he went one on one with the keeper, but his attempted nutmeg ended up with the ball coming off Sommer's leg and trickling wide of the post.
The final 20 minutes turned into somewhat of an exhibition match as Gladbach rarely threatened and City continued to pepper the opponents' goal.
Aguero finally got his hat-trick when he received a perfectly-weighted through-ball from Sterling and dummied the keeper before rolling the ball calmly into the back of the net.
In the end, it was a dominant display from City, whose next European fixture will be against Celtic.
Danielle Joynson
