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Pep Guardiola and Marcelo Bielsa, long-time friends, watched from the sidelines with opposing feelings as City delivered the worst defeat Leeds has ever experienced in the tournament.
City scored 500 goals in the Premier League under Guardiola, with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, John Stones, and Nathan Ake joining De Bruyne on the scoresheet.
De Bruyne’s second and City’s fifth goals, a 25-yard land-to-air missile that left Illan Meslier powerless, helped City move four points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table.
Foden scored the game’s first goal in the eighth minute, finishing off from the edge of the penalty area after Leeds goalkeeper Meslier was beaten in a race to the ball by the rampaging Rodri.
Bernardo Silva had previously missed a chance in front of an open goal at that point. Leeds were in chaos and trailed 2-0 when Grealish headed in Riyad Mahrez’s whipping cross from the right. It was Grealish’s first Premier League goal.
In the 32nd minute, De Bruyne made it 3-0 with a beautiful left-footed finish after Rodri’s throughball. As City attempted to improve their goal differential, Foden blasted just wide of the right post with Meslier beaten, before seeing another shot blocked by Luke Ayling.
In the 49th minute, Mahrez scored City’s fourth goal, a deflection from Junior Firpo deflecting the Algerian’s sliding shot past the helpless Meslier and into the left corner.
Foden prodded in from Mahrez’s ball, but he was millimetres offside; however, De Bruyne hammered a fifth City goal emphatically into the net from distance in the 62nd minute.
As City overwhelmed the desperate visitors, Stones smashed in the sixth goal, and fellow defender Ake headed in the seventh.
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