Manchester City produced a Champions League masterclass to sweep aside Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine and go top of Group F.

Two goals in five first-half minutes by captain David Silva and Aymeric Laporte set Pep Guardiola's side on their way in a game they dominated from start to finish.

Former Spain midfielder Silva volleyed the English champions into the lead moments after his flick had come back off a post.

French defender Laporte headed the second after a corner by Kevin de Bruyne, who was making his first start of the season following a knee injury, before substitute Bernardo Silva made it 3-0 with a shot that went in off the post.

City had 14 shots in the first half alone in Kharkiv, Riyad Mahrez seeing an effort cleared off the line by Yaroslav Rakitskiy when the game was goalless.

Raheem Sterling also hit the bar in the dying moments.

• Reaction from Kharkiv as Man City ease to victory

City turn on the style in Ukraine

City's surprise 2-1 opening home defeat by Lyon on 19 September seems an awfully long time ago.

Having bounced back with a 2-1 win in Germany against Hoffenheim, the prospect of a long trip to face experienced European opponents was a potentially daunting one.

Yet the 600 travelling fans who made the 4,000-mile round trip were rewarded with a stellar performance and a result that took their team four points clear of third spot at the halfway stage of the group campaign.

City had 24 shots in total and at one stage had managed an incredible 98% possession as Shakhtar were beaten at home by an English side in Europe for the first time.

On the eve of this game, Guardiola said his side were "not ready" to win the Champions League. Shakhtar are not genuine European heavyweights but City fans who witnessed this delicious performance might disagree with the Spaniard.

The hosts spent much of the game camped inside their own area as Mahrez, Gabriel Jesus and David Silva peppered Shakhtar's goal with shots.

The only surprise was that it took half an hour for City to break the deadlock, Silva following up his winner against Hoffenheim with an emphatic finish to set his team on their way.

Laporte was unmarked when he made it 2-0 while Shakhtar's defence parted to allow Bernardo Silva to score just 89 seconds after replacing De Bruyne.

De Bruyne impresses on return

On a night packed full of positives for City, De Bruyne marked his return to the starting line-up with an impressive performance.

The Belgium midfielder has endured a frustrating campaign through injury but he made up for lost time with an energetic display.

De Bruyne set the tone for a lively performance by forcing Andriy Pyatov into an early save following a short corner, before providing the assist for Laporte's goal.

With City coasting, Guardiola replaced De Bruyne with Bernardo Silva with around 20 minutes remaining - the Portuguese responding by scoring for the third successive game for club and country.

Man of the match - Raheem Sterling

City conquer Kharkiv - the stats

• Manchester City are the first English side to win away at Shakhtar Donetsk in European competition, after the Ukrainian side had won five and drawn two of the previous seven such games.
• Shahktar have kept just one clean sheet in their last 18 games in the Champions League.
• Only Sergio Aguero (33) has been directly involved in more Champions League goals for Manchester City than David Silva (15 - seven goals and eight assists).
• This was the first Champions League game Manchester City have won without Aguero in the starting XI since October 2017 (2-1 v Napoli).

What next?

Manchester City face two Premier League games - including a trip to Wembley to face Tottenham next Monday (22:00 BST) - as well as a Carabao Cup tie before they host Shakhtar in the Champions League (22:00 BST) on 7 November.