Five Things We Learnt As City Tear Bavarians Apart in Champions League Quarters

• Manchester City put themselves in the driver's seat with an assured 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first-leg tie
• A stunning strike from Rodri and two second-half goals from Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland gave City a three-nil win
• City and Bayern will renew hostilities next Wednesday when both sides clash for the reverse tie

Manchester City versus Bayern Munich was definitely the pick of the quarterfinal ties, and the game did live up to its billing.

With a semifinal spot up for grabs, Pep Guardiola's charges produced a masterclass performance to keep their search for the Holy Grail Champions League title alive.

Here are the five takeaways from Manchester City's three-nil victory against Bayern:

Pep overpowers Tuchel

Pep Guardiola mapped out a strategy which dealt with Thomas Tuchel, a man touted as the Spaniard's kryptonite, in the first leg of their Champions League tie.

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The Man City boss deployed a pragmatic approach in the first half, including ceding possession, but turned on the heat in the second half to see off Tuchel's Bayern Munich.

The overwhelming result shifts the game in favour of Man City ahead of the reverse tie at the Allianz Arena next Wednesday.

Haaland, the inevitable

Described as a goal-scoring machine, the 22-year-old striker inevitably found the back of the net against a side he knows pretty well.

After setting up Bernardo Silva for the second goal, the Norwegian goal poacher notched his 11th goal in the Champions League in acrobatic fashion.

His goal against Bayern on Tuesday night was his sixth in eight games against the Bavarians.

Man City's home invincibility reins

Bayern Munich reached the quarterfinal stage unscathed and were looking to keep their winning run in the Champions League intact. However, Pep Guardiola and his charges had other ideas.

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City's Etihad Stadium is not the most traditional venue in Champions League history, but Pep Guardiola has turned their home ground into a fortress, clearing any club that dares to visit them in Manchester.

They're unbeaten in their last 25 home Champions League matches at the Etihad (23 wins, 2 draws). It is the longest unbeaten home run by a Premier League club in the UCL ever.

According to Squawka, Man City have scored a staggering 37 goals, conceded four goals and kept seven clean sheets across all competitions in 2023 while remaining invincible.

Upamecano's costly mistakes hurt Bayern

The left-footed French centre-half dropped one of his worst performances in a Bayern shirt.

Upamecano was at fault for City's second goal after he surrendered possession to Jack Grealish after a sloppy play while also failing to track Haaland for the third goal, Mirror reports.

He has been one of Bayern's mainstays this season but clearly had an off day against City.

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Grealish comes off age

Jack Grealish struggled to match his hefty price tag in his maiden season. However, the former Aston Villa skipper has been in beast mode throughout this campaign.

He once proved his quality with a five-star performance causing problems for Bayern's defence while tracking back to help out Pep's defence in shutting out the Bavarians.

His crowning moment came when he pick-pocketed Dayot Upamecano before brilliantly teeing up Haaland, who found Bernardo with an inch-perfect cross for the second goal.