Champions League: Manchester City tear apart Basel. Spurs hold Juventus

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London, February 14: Manchester City took a giant step towards the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 4-0 thrashing of Basel at St Jakob-Park on Wednesday (February 14).

While Juventus conceded a 2-2 draw to Tottenham Hotspur to cede the advantage at Turin, Italy.

Basel were left to rue Dimitri Oberlin failing to punish City's early defensive vulnerability and having a penalty shout turned down as a blistering spell of three goals in the space of nine first-half minutes from Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Sergio Aguero took the game away from them.

Oberlin gave an early demonstration of his pace, streaming clear of the City defence before his touch around the onrushing Ederson entirely lacked conviction.

Centre-backs Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi were unsettled by Oberlin, although penalty claims against the latter found no sympathy from referee Jonas Eriksson.

Raphael Wicky's men undermined such encouraging moments by switching off in their own box and allowing Gundogan to head in Kevin De Bruyne's 14th-minute corner at the near post.

Valentin Stocker was the next Basel forward to almost undo City via the direct route, but the difference in cutting edge was born out once more by Silva's sublime chest control and volleyed finish from Raheem Sterling's chipped 18th-minute cross.

Goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik found himself caught out on that occasion and was rooted to the spot when Aguero seized upon a loose ball to clatter home from 25 yards.

Seeing De Bruyne and Elyounoussi frustrated in their pitches for the spectacular, Gundogan elected to show them how it was done, curling majestically into the top corner to crown a clockwork move that began with Kompany and Kyle Walker in the City half.

Spurs hold Juve

Tottenham came from 0-2 down to draw 2-2 with Juventus in Turin.

An early double from Gonzalo Higuain appeared to have set the Serie A champions up for a comfortable victory, before Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen gave Spurs a slight advantage to take back to Wembley with two away goals. The second leg will be played on March 7.