Manchester City's excellent December form showed no sign of abating on Boxing Day, as Pep Guardiola's side inflicted a brutal 6-3 win on Leicester City.
City exploded out of the traps at the Etihad Stadium, with Guardiola's players repeatedly breaching the Foxes backline with machine-like efficiency.
Just five minutes were on the clock when Kevin De Bruyne collected Fernandinho's looping pass inside the penalty area and was afforded time to turn and lash a shot beyond Kasper Schmeichel.
City scored three more in the 20 minutes that followed with penalties from Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling on either side of an Ilkay Gundogan tap-in.
Sterling, in particular, was brilliant in the opening stages. His acceleration, chops inside, and intricate dribbling was enough to give makeshift right-back Marc Albrighton nightmares for the next week.
On the opposite flank, Mahrez had a slightly quieter half. Yet, he, Bernardo Silva, and Joao Cancelo combined to cause mayhem on the left side of the Leicester defence with no end to the overlapping problems. caused by the trio.
In the centre of the attack, Guardiola dealt another blow to the 'we'd be so much better with a striker' brigade by employing neither a false nine nor a traditional striker. Instead, De Bruyne, Gundogan and Bernardo drifted forward at will, acting as 'false 10s and 8s' that moved forward into striking positions, rather than strikers that dropped deep.
It's incredible to think that City inflicted their first-half masterclass without the contributions of Phil Foden, Jack Grealish or Gabriel Jesus, names that more often than not are found in the starting XI.
The reality is that City has such a talented - not necessarily big - squad, with an embarrassment of attacking riches capable of picking apart whoever may stand in front of them. Perhaps it goes some way to explain why Ferran Torres has opted to pursue his footballing future in Barcelona rather than Manchester.
The Spain international will likely move to the Camp Nou in January, with City and Barcelona reportedly agreeing to a £47m transfer.
Personal factors aside - it must have been tough for a 21-year-old to move to a new country, away from his family, in the middle of a global pandemic - many City fans have been left confused by Ferran's motivations for leaving.
Why would he give up the chance to play with some of the world's best players, to win silverware and learn from the best coach in the game, for the challenge of joining a rebuilding project that could take years to become successful?
In brushing aside Leicester, City showed that the barriers to his success in sky blue are just too numerous and too significant.
Ferran is very talented, but having only started to play as a striker in the summer, he still has a lot to learn. To realise his potential to become an elite number nine, he needs to play often, far from a guarantee at City given their attacking talents.
If Ferran wasn't currently injured, it's hard to imagine that Guardiola would start him every game ahead of Sterling, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden or Grealish; all players who have occupied a central attacking role this season.
His decision to leave is even more understandable given that 2022 is a World Cup year; Ferran's bid to lead the line for Spain won't be helped by sitting on the City bench.
Some will question Ferran's ambition, but sometimes football is about picking your battles. If Guardiola converted the Spaniard into a striker in 2020 rather than 2021, he could have been City's pure striker.
But he didn't, and it looks like City will sign either Erling Haaland or Dusan Vlahovic next summer. With that prospect on the horizon and City playing as well as they are, Ferran's choice is perhaps a smart one.
Do you understand why Ferran Torres wants to leave City? Follow our City Is Ours writer Alex Brotherton on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
