Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has hailed their "amazing result" at St. Jakob-Park, as The Citizens all but secured their place in the last-eight of the Champions League with the 4-0 win over FC Basel.
Delighted with the performance
Many had City as the favourites going into the clash in the Swiss capital but some scepticism remained considering English side's record at St. Jakob-Park in recent years, but the tie was all but sewn up inside 25 minutes with three goals from İlkay Gündoğan, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Agüero.
Gündoğan added a fourth at the beginning of the second period to round off the tie in some style, putting them in a healthy position ahead of the second leg at the beginning of March and Guardiola was full of praise for his side post-match.
"The Champions League is 180 minutes, but we are almost there," Guardiola stated post-match following their empathic victory. "I'm not saying it's done because in football anything can happen, but it's an amazing result."
"We could have been 2-0 down but then we were 0-2 up," the Catalan continued. "We were clinical and I am delighted with the performance."
"We kept our level, we fought hard and created chances to score," Guardiola added. "They were four amazing goals. Overall I'm delighted."
Guy with special abilities
There was a number of stand out performances on Tuesday night, but special praise was held for Gündoğan who has shown City just what they were missing last season through his long-term knee injury.
The German has been superb throughout the season but Tuesday night could well be the stand-out with Gündoğan being denied a hat-trick only by an excellent stop from Tomáš Vaclík, and Guardiola shared his feelings on how "special" he thinks Gündoğan is to the side.
"He's a guy with special qualities," he said on the German's performance. "He's amazing with a good sense of the goal."
"When I see him play," the coach stated. "I realise how we missed him last season."
"He is a special player with a lot of personality," Guardiola concluded. "He doesn't feel pressure, he's a top player."