Man City all but booked their place in the EFL Cup final with a 9-0 demolition of League One Burton Albion at the Etihad.
Gabriel Jesus scored four to lead the thumping and make the second leg of this semi-final, at the Pirelli Stadium in a fortnight's time, a mere formality.
Pep Guardiola clearly wanted the job done tonight, and named a strong line-up, with no room for Phil Foden, though Eric Garcia was given a rare start at centre-back on his 18th birthday.
Many of the Burton travelling contingent were delayed by traffic on the M6, and those arriving any later than six minutes after kick off would have missed Kevin De Bruyne heading David Silva's cross past Bradley Collins to open the scoring.
Marcus Harness skied a glorious chance to put Burton level, as Nigel Clough's side briefly looked like making a game of it, but a spell of three goals in seven minutes after the half hour mark ended the game, and the tie, as a contest.
First, Ilkay Gundogan's brilliant through ball fed Leroy Sane, and though his effort was blocked by Collins, Jesus arrived to put away the rebound.
The Brazilian had his second soon after, with Gundogan again instrumental in starting the move with a chipped pass in behind to Silva. VAR showed that the Spaniard was just onside as he cushioned into the path of Jesus, who found the net via the upright.
If Burton were starting to feel it might not be their night, they had it confirmed when Oleksandr Zinchenko's over-hit cross found the far corner for his first City goal.
Jesus completed his hat-trick just before the hour mark, heading home from Riyad Mahrez's floated cross, before Guardiola introduced Foden in place of De Bruyne.
The England youngster was on the scoresheet within five minutes, tucking home after Collins had saved from Jesus, and the Brazilian then got his fourth and City's seventh after a sensational outside-of-the-boot cross from Leroy Sane.
Read More
Kyle Walker added an eighth from Mahrez's cross, and with twenty minutes to play, the record for the biggest win in the competition's history, shared by Liverpool and West Ham at 10-0, looked vulnerable.
Mahrez added his name to the scoresheet with a toe-poke that trickled past Collins' tired dive for a ninth but Burton clung on to avoid the humiliation of double figures.
