Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola proclaimed that his side deserve "a lot of credit", after goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling gave them a 2-0 win over Shakhtar Dontesk.
Made an extraordinary performance
Many ahead of the clash at the Etihad Stadium will have expected the Cityzens to extend their unbeaten run, but City were given a run for their money in the first period as both sides failed to create a serious opportunity between them.
City managed to breakthrough at the beginning of the second period with De Bruyne's excellent effort, Sergio Agüero should have made it two with his penalty miss before Sterling secured all three points and Guardiola shared nothing but praise post-match for what he stated was an "extraordinary performance".
"We made an extraordinary performance," Guardiola told his post-match press conference. "Especially in the second half."
"They play short passes, they make amazing build-up, they are a machine," the coach proclaimed. "They are well organised defensively."
"So, a lot of credit (for) our victory," Guardiola added. "We faced a team who demand a lot to beat them. It was a big victory for us."
Going to break it eventually
The stage seemed set for Agüero to break the club's 78-year-old goalscoring record with the striker one away from equaling Eric Brook's record, but it just wasn't meant to be for the Argentine.
Agüero had two clean-cut chances in each half which were straight at goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov, the goalkeeper was the one who also denied him from the penalty spot but Guardiola stated that it is "going to happen" for the Argentine.
"That is going to happen," he said on Agüero breaking the record. "It doesn't matter today."
"He doesn't have to score 50 goals to break a record," Guardiola concluded. "It is just one."