Manchester City ran riot with a club record score in Europe to rampage into the quarter-finals of the Champions League
Blues legend Sergio Aguero set the ball rolling with two more goals to take his European tally to 38 and blow away timid Schalke in the first half.
Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling , Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Gabriel Jesus rubbed it in with further goals as the Blues beat their own record in the competition, set against Shakhtar Donetsk earlier this season.
The win also equalled the record scoreline for the knockout phase of the Champions League, twice rattled up by Bayern Munich.
With Manchester United, Tottenham, Ajax, Juventus and Porto already through, the possible quarter-final opponents so far do not have the fearsome look of recent years.
And the way Real Madrid capitulated was a stark reminder that the gods of European football are, after all, mere mortals.
City’s progress to the last eight has hardly been smooth.
They kicked off their group campaign with a shock home defeat by Lyon, who had struggled at the start of their domestic season.
They also twice went behind to Hoffenheim before winning both those games, and trailed to Lyon at home on two occasions before securing a 2-2 draw.
Pep Guardiola had a problem in defence, with Nicolas Otamendi suspended, due to the booking he picked up for his contentious handball in the first leg, and Vincent Kompany injured.
John Stones was not deemed fit enough to start so he took a place on the bench alongside Cameron Humphreys – his first involvement for three years – with Danilo asked to play centre back.
City started sluggishly but burst into life when Kyle Walker’s precision pass inside the full back found Raheem Sterling. He weighed up his options and picked out Aguero’s inevitable near-post run.
But the Blues’ record European goalscorer got his angles wrong and glared incredulously after the ball as it flashed wide.
City looked mentally weary for much of the opening half-hour but it was the increasingly sharp Ilkay Gundogan who finally opened the can.
His chipped passes into the box have been a real weapon for City this season, and this one was aimed at getting Bernardo Silva round the back of Jeffrey Bruma.
The defender panicked and bundled into the little Portuguese, and referee Mr. Turpin awarded the penalty.
Aguero impudently chipped it straight down the middle, Panenka-style, and the tie was all but won after.
The Blues opened up, and three minutes later Sterling was haring down the right. He came up with a cheeky backheel which gave Aguero another sight of goal and the Argentine slipped the ball between Ralf Fahrmann’s legs.
When the game re-started, City scored again as Schalke began to fall apart.
Aleks Zinchenko picked out Sane’s run and he found the far corner of the net against his former club to end the contest.
Sane scored a similar goal in the second half, only to be ruled out for a marginal offside on the VAR review, but his assist for Sterling’s goal was a highlight of the game.
He whipped a curving ball to the far side of the box from a deep position and Sterling met it perfectly on the half-volley, side-footing into the far corner. The linesman’s flag for offside was overturned by the video ref.
City were not done yet and when Sane again tormented the right side of the visitors’ defence, his cross picked out Bernardo for another simple finish.
The German winger was in full, majestic flow by this point and some more stunning footwork opened up the Schalke defence again, his pass sending in Foden, who rounded the keeper and scored.
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