There was plenty that got pushed to the back of the mind on Tuesday to make room for all of Erling Haaland's records. The 6ft 5 striker is difficult to ignore at the best of times, but when he is in the clinical mood that he was against RB Leipzig it becomes inevitable that all the focus will be on him. Scoring five goals in 60 minutes generally has that effect. Haaland's performance came as part of a stellar team display though, with Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan , Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne all ensuring the attack had far too much for their opponents, overrunning RB Leipzig to make the second leg so much easier than the first. Rodri was of course central to cementing the links between defence and attack. Also read: Julian Alvarez set for new Man City deal that includes bumper pay rise A word is needed for the defence too. They may not have had to do too much but the team did not appear to have lost much creativity through playing four centre-backs in the starting XI yet gained a huge amount of stability. Just as at Crystal Palace, there was barely anything for Ederson to do. Having looked unusually shaky in the months after the
World Cup and conceding more goals than they are used to, City have sharpened up. The consistency of Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji has been bolstered by the return from injury first of Ruben Dias and then John Stones. The defence have now kept clean sheets in four consecutive games, something they had not done at any other point in the season previously. Statistically speaking, this is the best shape the defence has been in all year. And that matters. Obviously, Haaland and his team of attackers will be relied upon to score the goals to win the games but everything has to be built from a stable foundation. It is how every successful team works, and a mean defence has underscored City's
Premier League title wins under Guardiola and also their best run in the
Champions League. Speaking after the 7-0 win over RB Leipzig, Stones spoke about how the squad are pushing each other on to keep their levels high. "I think we always have that same mentality and approach towards our games, whoever it might be," he said. "That proves the point about how the last game didn't go as planned and how we wanted it to turn out but tonight we put things right and we keep pushing forward. The mood in the dressing room after that first leg wasn't the best and we felt we could have done more but that's what winners and our kind of team has: never satisfied and always wanting more. "I believe we can go a long way and we do really just have to keep performing like tonight, keep showing who we are as a team and our way of playing and stick to what we believe in. That comes right from the top all the way down." It has been a rocky road this season with the World Cup proving a major hurdle to overcome, but the signs are there from back to front that City are now pointing in the right direction. Read more: What Haaland told Pep after being substituted off vs Leipzig Haaland repeated Messi feat vs Leipzig Guardiola gives verdict on De Bruyne vs RB Leipzig City fans rave over De Bruyne performance Get all the latest City news