CL favourites Man City taking it ‘game by game’ – Mahrez

Jason Soutar
Riyad Mahrez celebrates his goal

Man City winger Riyad Mahrez is not taking his side’s Champions League form for granted despite their 5-0 win at Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday.

The Algeria international opened the scoring as City demolished the Portuguese champions in the first leg of their last 16 tie.

Bernardo Silva scored twice in his hometown, with England duo Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden also getting on the scoresheet.

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Pep Guardiola’s side are nine points clear of second-placed Liverpool in the Premier League and are all but in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Despite their form, Mahrez insists it won’t be easy to win the European competition, almost a year on from City losing in the final against domestic rivals Chelsea.

“The Champions League isn’t easy and it’s not like a league,” Mahrez said (quotes via the Mirror).

“You have to be there in so many ways, we have to be strong and arrive at the end.

“It will be difficult, we’ll focus on the next game and we’ll see.

“This was a good performance and we have a very good team, but we have to keep going.

“Winning this competition is very far from now, we go match by match. We won this game and we played a great match.

“Our mentality is we push each other every day. Now it’s time to focus on the Premier League and try to play a good game against Tottenham.”

Elsewhere, Rio Ferdinand reckons Cristiano Ronaldo gives Man Utd “a chance” of winning the Champions League this season despite some recent poor performances.

The Red Devils were knocked out of the FA Cup by Championship side Middlesbrough in recent weeks before they were held to two disappointing 1-1 draws in the Premier League against Burnley and Southampton.

However, Man Utd bounced back on Tuesday with a laboured display to see off Brighton 2-0, with the result giving Ralf Rangnick’s side a much-needed three points.

Ferdinand said on BT Sport: “In this competition, you can not bet against him [Ronaldo] coming up trumps because he is the king of this competition in terms of goals and deciding big fixtures,” Ferdinand said.

“So, with him in the team, you’re always going to be in with a chance.”

Manchester City Riyad Mahrez