With a mere three divisions and £950-plus-million in market value between the two sides, Man City managed to come out on top over Burton Albion in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
They won 9-0 on the night, and this coming just days after a 7-0 trouncing of Rotherham in the third round of the FA Cup.
After falling behind in the fifth minute to a Kevin De Bruyne header, the League One side managed to restrict City for roughly another 25 minutes before the floodgates well and truly opened at the Etihad.
Sure enough, Gabriel Jesus scored twice in four minutes to put City 3-0 up before Oleksandr Zinchenko added a fourth before the break (though the jury is out as to whether he actually meant it or not!)
The second half began with Jesus completing his hat-trick (5-0) and then missing the initial chance that Phil Foden gobbled up to make it 6-0 on the hour mark – the young midfielder having only been on the pitch for a few minutes after coming on for De Bruyne.
Jesus then made amends by adding his fourth (City’s seventh) in the 65th minute before a couple of cake-icers from Kyle Walker and Riyad Mahrez completed the rout.
Word then seemed to rustle around the Etihad that City were one goal from equalling their all-time record win as chants began demanding a tenth from Pep Guardiola’s side.
Despite peppering their League One opponents with 27 shots (Burton mustered four, in fairness), City fell short of making double figures and had to make do with only racking up the largest ever winning margin in any English cup competition, ever.
City’s all-time record win was a 12–0 spanking of Liverpool Stanley in 1890 but that came while the club were still a church team known as St Mark’s of West Gorton.
Their record win as “Manchester City” remains a 10–0 victory against Darwen FC (of Lancashire, now long defunct) in February of 1899.
Still, we’re backing Pep’s dynamic charges to hold Burton at bay at the Pirelli Stadium in a fortnight’s time.