Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick after missing two first-half penalties as Manchester City thrashed Steaua Bucuresti 5-0 to move to the brink of the Champions League group stage.
Despite his failures from the spot, Aguero led the way for City as Pep Guardiola watched his side produce a dominant performance in the Romanian capital.
City were gifted the early chance to take the lead when Raheem Sterling's clever touch invited a poor tackle from Muniru Sulley, but Aguero was unable to capitalise as Florin Nita guessed correctly to make the save before Nolito struck the crossbar from the rebound.
The visitors were ahead just minutes later thanks to David Silva, who held his nerve to find the bottom corner after the influential Sterling had turned into space inside the box to pick out the Spaniard.
Another mistake soon followed from the Steaua defence when Gabriel Enache foolishly brought down Aleksandar Kolarov, but Aguero missed once again from the spot by sending his second penalty over the crossbar.
Steaua would often break in numbers, but Wilfredo Caballero, who once again started ahead of Joe Hart, kept out a weak effort from Jugurtha Hamroun as the hosts missed their best opportunity of the opening 45 minutes.
Kolarov then went close to doubling the lead by meeting Silva's corner at the front post with a volley which clipped the top of the crossbar.
Aguero's recovery from his earlier errors began when he scored his side's second with a low finish after Sterling had found space on the edge of the box to tee up the Argentine.
Any hopes of a Steaua fightback in the second half were dashed less than four minutes after the break when Kevin De Bruyne produced the perfect pass to find Nolito, who beat the offside trap to round Nita before tapping home his first competitive goal for the club.
Nolito fired against the outside of the post just moments later before Aguero sent a powerful strike just wide as City continued to dominate proceedings for long spells.
Steaua rarely threatened following the third goal as the returning Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones, making his Champions League debut, stifled the majority of the home side's attacks.
Nita seemed on his own in the battle to stop City's marauding attackers late on as he made two fine saves to keep out Aguero, but the goalkeeper was helpless to prevent the fourth when the striker drilled his low effort into the bottom corner following an excellent move which involved both De Bruyne and Nolito on the edge of the box.
Nolito was denied a second when Nita pushed another shot to safety late on as City, who will host Steaua at the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday, threatened with almost every attack.
Perhaps unsurprisingly it was Aguero who had the final say for the visitors as he scored his third with an emphatic finish after substitute Fernando sent him through with a fine pass.
Callum Mulvihill
