Manchester City made light work of Galatasaray as they sneaked into the top eight of the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola’s side had faced the potential of a two-legged play-off in February after their shock defeat at Bodo/Glimt, but comfortably saw off Galatasaray before Benfica’s dramatic win over Real Madrid ensured the Blues progressed automatically.
“It is better to rest,” said Guardiola. “In the end, the margins have been [close].
“It doesn’t matter if we play play-off or don’t – it is arriving in that moment the best way with players fit and in the best condition.
“Considering how many top, top teams are out of the eight, I know how difficult it is. Even winning in Norway is difficult.”
City should have taken the lead inside the opening three minutes against Galatasaray, but Erling Haaland headed Rayan Ait-Nouri’s pin-point cross wide from eight yards out.
The Norwegian made up for that miss by latching on to Jeremy Doku’s through ball and dinking a delightful finish over the onrushing Ugurcan Cakir to end his barren run in open play.
Nico O’Reilly’s thunderous long-range drive was then tipped over by Cakir, but the dominant hosts doubled the advantage on the half-hour mark as Doku laid the ball off for Rayan Cherki to smash home an unerring finish.
Having provided the assists for both goals, Doku hobbled off on 37 minutes with a calf injury and is likely to miss Sunday’s trip to Tottenham.
Nigeria international Victor Osimhen had Galatasaray’s best chances but his flicked header and low drive were both kept out by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
