Manchester City all but secured their place in the last-eight of the Champions League on Tuesday night as goals from İlkay Gündoğan, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Agüero secured a 4-0 win over FC Basel.

The Swiss side nearly took a shock lead through Dimitri Oberlin but City quickly clicked into cruise control with goals from Gündoğan, Silva and Agüero, Raheem Sterling nearly made it four but the hammer blow had already been dealt.

City didn't look like relenting in any way as the second half kicked off as Gündoğan added his second and City's fourth, half-chances from Oberlin and Gündoğan came as the clocked ticked down but the night had belonged to City long before.

Starting off brightly

City headed to the Swiss capital as the firm favourites to get into the last-eight, but will have known full well of the recent record of English teams at St. Jakob-Park and it nearly got off to a surprising start.

A punt forward managed to find Oberlin as he managed to race in behind Vincent Kompany and Nicolás Otamendi, Ederson proved the key factor as he rushed off his line which forced him to shank it wide.

Kicking it up gear after gear

Despite a slight scare it didn't seem to shake City in anyway, as three goals in nine minutes all but secured their place in the quarter-final.

The first goal seemed the most simplest as Kevin de Bruyne's corner found Gündoğan, the German managed to hold off his marker to head home at the near post.

The second came five minutes later as a ball in from Sterling on the left was deflected into the path of Silva, the Portuguese international took it on his chest and struck which Tomáš Vaclík could only help into the top corner.

​It was all over four minutes later as they added a third, Fernandinho broke with some ferocity before being challenged, it only went as far as Agüero who showed no hesitation in rifiling it into the bottom corner.

It could have easily been four when Sterling managed to wriggle his way into a one-on-one situation, but Vaclík was the hero as he thwarted the first effort and tapped away the second after Sterling had regained his balance.

Continuing the sublime

There was no relenting from The Citizens as the second-half got underway, and their fourth was arguably the best of the bunch.

Gündoğan picked up the ball from Agüero on the edge of the area, the German did well to drift inside the defender before curling his effort into the top corner.

Decent chances at either end

Despite already having four goals City continued to push and push, but the affair began to become a bit more of an open affair as the clock began to tick down.

Valentin Stocker floated a delightful ball towards the back post where Oberlin was unmarked, the ball back across goal looked the better opportunity but he went alone with goal gaping but he could only head it wide.

The final opportunity of the night of course fell to City as Gündoğan looked destined for the hat-trick, Agüero provided it on a plate for the German with the cut-back but Vaclík sprawled across goal to keep it somewhat respectable.

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.