Gabriel Jesus struck four as Manchester City powered towards the Carabao Cup final with a ruthless 9-0 demolition of League One Burton at the Etihad Stadium.
The tone for a one-sided semi-final first leg was set as Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring after just five minutes, with Jesus adding two and Oleksandr Zinchenko another before the break.
Jesus grabbed two more in a 13-minute second-half blitz that also saw Phil Foden and Kyle Walker hit the target before Riyad Mahrez completed the scoring late on.
It was City's biggest win since they thrashed Huddersfield 10-1 in 1987 and ensured the second leg will be a formality.
PA
Relive all the action below.
Manchester City take on Burton Albion with the bigger picture in mind
While the events of tonight may not be written about for years to come, their consequences and ripples will be felt when it matters most.Burton Albion chairman Ben Robinson has been speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live about tonight's clash, here's what he had to say:
"It is a remarkable achievement for the team to get through to the semi final of any competition and on the way, beating five good teams. Tonight is about damage limitation, we saw what Man City achieved against Rotherham in the FA Cup on Sunday. The players are here to go out and enjoy it and achieve their best.
"I’m sure City have four big objectives on their agenda, and tonight I'm sure they will hope to score enough goals tonight to make the tie a formality. But our lads will be committed and the football Nigel Clough has achieved with this team is some of the best we have played for years.
"Getting a draw against Manchester United as a conference side in the FA Cup was a fantastic achievement. But tonight is without question the biggest game in our history and the road to this game was much tougher than that United game. So we are going to enjoy it and we look forward to welcoming Manchester City back to the Pirelli Stadium."
