While Phil Foden kissed the Manchester City badge on his shirt after scoring his first goal at the Etihad Stadium, the expression on his face soon told a different tale.
A teenager championed for his class on the ball and technical ability had scored in freak fashion, with a poor piece of control unlikely to impress Pep Guardola as he met Ilkay Gundogan’s sand wedge of a pass with a stray touch that fooled goalkeeper Marek Rodak. It was less “Stockport Iniesta”, more Stockport Shaun Goater. The ball went in, but with few points for style.
But they all count and City, who made eight changes, mustered seven goals to record their biggest win under Guardiola. Eliminated and embarrassed by Wigan last season, the FA Cup favourites instead ran riot, aided by stellar performances from Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne.
Sterling’s City career is only 167 games old but he has already been involved in 101 goals, adding a 55th strike and a 46th assist to already impressive tallies while De Bruyne played with the air of a man with a point to prove after his understudy, Bernardo Silva, earned such deserved plaudits for his display against Liverpool, when the Belgian was an unused substitute. De Bruyne produced a blend of outrageous skill, accurate delivery and full-blooded endeavour.
Luckless and hapless, Rotherham could lament an open goal, a deflected goal and a goal that Foden scarcely meant but, had Guardiola not taken mercy on the Championship by removing De Bruyne for the final quarter when the Dutchman Philippe Sandler got a debut, and by resting Sergio Aguero, City could easily been in double figures.
Gabriel Jesus eventually scored, with the excellent Sterling giving him an open goal, but only after a display of profligacy to illustrate his lack of confidence and conviction. He could have scored after 70 seconds, heading De Bruyne’s cross against the bar, and might have had a hat-trick long before half-time.
Jesus kept Rotherham in the game for longer than would otherwise have been the case. When Sterling opened the scoring in the 12th minute, after De Bruyne found him with understated ease, it was City’s fifth major opening. Their second and third goals still had a hint of fortune, with Foden’s unwitting finish being followed by an own goal as Rotherham’s Semi Ajayi, trying to deny Sterling a tap-in, supplied the inadvertent finish.