After the polluted atmosphere in Moscow a fortnight ago, a welcome contrast here at the Etihad Stadum.

Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City duly made it through to the Champions League knockout phase and did it with a show of pure attacking brilliance that suggests a sustained challenge for Europe’s top prize may not be far off.

Racist chanting was thankfully absent, unlike in the Khimki Arena when the sides last met, and was replaced by the sound of purring at the football City served up on their way to a place in the last 16.

Defensively, they may still look less than secure, but with Sergio Aguero masterminding their attacking manoeuvres, few can match them for sheer potency going forward.

Alvaro Negredo left with the ball tucked under his arm, after plundering a hat-trick, but it was Aguero who claimed most of the plaudits after another remarkable chapter in his City success story.

A third-minute penalty was unerringly planted beyond the diving Igor Akinfeev’s reach and when he almost nonchalantly turned his marker to double City’s lead in the 20th minute, it took Aguero beyond Francis Lee as their leading scorer in Europe.

It was all too much for Russian champions CSKA, who had their moments early on and came back again in the second half, but could do nothing to shackle Aguero’s menace.

If the facts alone leap off the page — seven goals for Aguero in as many Champions’ League games and 12 in his last nine matches overall — the way they were brought to bear says even more about his standing as one of Europe’s most accomplished frontrunners.

Spot-kick specialists may be plentiful enough, but not players who can instantly control a pass with their back to goal and leave a close marker flat-footed in the same movement, as Aguero did for his second.

It was spellbinding stuff, and, for good measure, he turned provider 10 minutes later, with a perfectly weighted cross for Negredo to bag the first of his treble.

CSKA kept coming back, striker Seydou Doumbia scoring twice, but the gulf in class was always evident and will leave Europe’s finest in little doubt that City mean business at last.

Pellegrini stressed in his programme notes that he wanted the same level of intensity that swamped Norwich 7-0 on Saturday and he could hardly have wished for a better start.

Latching on to a Gael Clichy pass on the left, David Silva wriggled through a space that barely seemed to exist on the by-line and was sent tumbling by Zoran Tosic.

It looked a routine decision for Spanish referee Carlos Carballo and Aguero duly despatched the penalty into the top corner, to the consternation of former Manchester United winger Tosic, who had opened the scoring in Moscow a fortnight ago.

If there remains a flaw that could yet scupper City in Europe, it is their defensive fallibility and it was evident as the dangerous Keisuke Honda had a close-range fifth minute shot blocked before setting up a chance that Doumbia blasted wastefully over.

Such moments of unease need addressing, but there’s not much City’s coaches need to do with their array of attacking talent other than sit back and admire it with everyone else.

Aguero’s finishing and general sharpness may have been the overriding factor behind another flood of goals, but one moment of inspired interplay between Silva and Samir Nasri in the 17th minute may just have eclipsed even that as the abiding memory of the night.

Nasri’s dazzlingly quick footwork shook off the attention of three markers in an improbably tight space.

He passed to Silva and the little forward did his best to outshine his team-mate with an equally fleet-footed twist and turn, his angled shot hitting the side netting.

It was exhibition stuff and CSKA appeared still to be in a trance as they conceded two further goals in the 20th and 30th minutes.

They are conducting a poll at BBC Radio Manchester at the moment to determine whether Aguero is the best striker City have ever had.

The ‘yes’ vote must have been swelled by the way he controlled a Nasri pass and turned past his marker, Aleksei Berezutski, in one sublime movement before drilling a shot into the far corner.

As predicted, Costel Pantilimon kept his place in goal and lapsed into Joe Hart mode just once, when he left his line to try and punch clear a deflected 23rd-minute free-kick and was left flailing at thin air.

But it hardly mattered, as Aguero then threaded a perfectly weighted low cross from the right, between a line of defenders and a diving Akinfeev, for Negredo to apply the simplest of finishes.

Doumbia raced through unchallenged and wrong-footed the advancing Pantilimon to reduce the arrears in first-half stoppage time, but the gap was soon restored as the goals just kept flowing for rampant City.

Yaya Toure’s floated pass into the area fell towards Nasri, who engineered it across the area with the deftest of first-time touches for the unmarked Negredo to roll over the line from barely six yards.

Clichy completed a wretched night on a personal level by clumsily fouling Doumbia, who picked himself up to score from the spot. But Negredo had the last word with a point-blank header from James Milner’s chip in the last seconds of stoppage time.

Job done and Champions League progress secured at long last. But as Pellegrini knows only too well, this is just base camp. The summit is still some way off.

— Daily Mail