World News – GB – Highlights: Marseille 0-3 City

City’s excellent start to the Champions League this season continued with a superb 3-0 victory over Marseille

It was our first competitive victory on French soil and the style and panache obtained suggests that Pep Guardiola’s team are close to their best

Ferran Torres gave City the lead in the first half and new strikes from Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling left the Ligue 1 side well beaten on their own ground

As is regularly the case, City started against a team seeking to contain and defend in numbers

The hosts showed little ambition in the early exchanges and were almost exclusively pinned in and around their own box when City opened the scoring

A wayward defensive pass from Valentin Rongier couldn’t have found a worse recipient as Kevin De Bruyne recovered in space on the edge of the box before scoring a low pass in the middle for Ferran Torres at home with 18 minutes played

Raheem Sterling was a continued threat on the right and De Bruyne and Foden were brilliant and inventive, but it was Oleks Zinchenko who nearly doubled City’s lead in the 36th minute when Torres landed a lost pass and Zinchenko took over, drilling a low shot that kissed the outside of the right post

Marseille ventured a bit further after the break, but every time they managed to get the ball into the city’s area, Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias were on hand to clear

There was always the danger that a goal wouldn’t be enough, so it was with some relief that City finally doubled the lead

Phil Foden jumped up a challenge to the left before cutting a cross at the back post for Sterling to stay alive and Ilkay Gundogan to come home from seven yards

With 76 minutes played, it gave Pep Guardiola’s men a much-needed break and the Catalan responded by withdrawing four of his players to rejuvenate and see the game end

And a third 81 minutes made the margin of the win look more realistic, with De Bruyne exchanging passes with Riyad Mahrez before the Belgian again played the perfect pass into the box so Sterling could hit the close house

Manchester City FC, Olympique de Marseille, UEFA Champions League, Pep Guardiola, Raheem Sterling