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AMMAN — Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel cruised through the final six gravel stages to secure a comfortable 15th victory at the 2022 Jordan Rally on Saturday, according to the Jordan Rally Media Service. 

Driving an Autotek Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 to victory for the third time in Jordan, the Qatari won 11 of the 12 special stages in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas of the Hashemite Kingdom and is now very close to a record-breaking 18th FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) title. The win marked Attiyah’s 81st career MERC success and his third of the season, while his Andorra-based co-driver now has 29 victories to his name. 

Attiyah, who had a winning margin of 9min 57.6sec, said: “I am really happy to win the Jordan Rally. I have a lot of experience and I have competed a lot here. Thanks to the organisation for making an amazing job. To win 15 times here has not been easy but the team has worked very hard. We need only two or three points from Lebanon and Cyprus. We know we can be strong in every race. We need another Nasser Al Attiyah in the championship. We need people to continue the Middle East Championship. It is important to us.”

The Lebanese duo of Alex Feghali and Joseph Matar overcame a minor turbo scare to seal second overall and first in the MERC2 category, the youngster going one better than his third place and second in class in 2021.

“It was a pretty fun weekend and at the end of the first day we had a good of around one minute,” said Feghali. “The game plan today was just to keep the time and that’s exactly what we did. It’s nice to get the second place, my first second place ever and we won the group.”

Defending MERC2 champion Meshari Al Thefiri was unable to catch Feghali on the final day but the Kuwaiti and Qatari co-driver Nasser Al Kuwari collected valuable showroom category points nonetheless, their challenge for the showroom category title boosted by the unfortunate retirement of the series-leading Jordanian Issa Abu Jamous with car damage. 

Thefiri said: “It was good for us to finish this rally. We lost many seconds yesterday. Today I pushed to the maximum to catch what I can. We win six stages and Alex wins six. I promise next year we will fix everything to win!”

The Jordanian pairing of Khaled Juma and Tareq Al Taher came home in fourth overall in their Subaru Impreza WRX and claimed victory in the Jordan National Rally after a fierce tussle with fifth-placed Hamada Odeh and Yazan Juma. The crew were separated by just half a second in the battle for fourth and the national category win. 

Shadi Shaban and Samer Issa had been given a notional time for the fifth stage on Friday and were able to continue on day two. The Mitsubishi crew reached the finish in sixth overall. 

Abdullah Al Rawahi and Jordanian navigator Ata Al Hmoud had held second overall for the first four stages on Friday and continued to show excellent pace on the final day after restarting in their Škoda Fabia R2 under the Rally2 ruling. The Omani set the fastest time in stage nine and a string of second fastest times enabled him to climb back to seventh overall. 

That vital finish for the Omani ensured that Attiyah was mathematically not able to confirm a record-breaking 18th regional title before the next round in Lebanon. 

Rawahi said: “It was important to gather some points, especially as we did not finish in Kuwait. This time we had a few dramatic moments, but we managed to come back and the second day was good and the set-up for the car was much better when we went softer. The pace was there as well. Having Nasser in the championship is a great benchmark. He is a world-class driver. Every time I try and get closer and closer to him and that is happening and he is always there to support as well. Hopefully in the future we can do what Nasser has been doing!”

Kuwait’s Mohammed Al Thefiri and Suleiman Al Helal were eighth and the Jordanian MERC2 title-chasing Ihab Al Shorafa and Yousef Juma finished ninth and added valuable points to their tally. Yousef Al Dhafeeri and Abedalrahman Shekakwa rounded off the top 10.

Local driver Asem Aref teamed up with Ahmad Jankhout to compete in the MERC3 section in his Renault Clio RS. But the former regional two-wheel drive champion retired in the penultimate stage when the studs on a front wheel sheared and the wheel fell off.

AMMAN — The 2022 Jordan Rally was officially flagged away from the Royal Automobile Museum in Amman on Thursday evening by HRH Princess Ayah Al Feisal.

Twenty-two cars passed technical checks, with 15 teams eligible for the fourth round of the 2022 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) and a further six taking part in a Jordan national status event running behind the main rally, according to the Jordan Rally Media Service.

Several team members attended the official FIA pre-event press conference on the start podium shortly before the ceremonial start formalities.

On Friday competitors tackle two loops of three gravel special stages, starting with the 9.71km Yakrut test from 8:27am.

Drivers then face the rigours of the demanding WRC-style Jordan River stage of 40.79km (9:49am) and a run through the 11.34km Baptism Site special (10:43am). The three specials are repeated from 12:47pm, 14:05pm and 15:17pm, respectively

AMMAN — Football teams will scramble to make up for lost points as the 7th Week of the Jordan Professional League kicks off on Thursday.

Last week, Wihdat stumbled in their 1-1 draw against Ramtha and will next play Sahab who beat Salt 1-0 to jump to third place.

Hussein Irbid maintained their lead as they beat Sarih 2-0 and next play Mugheer Sarhan, while Faisali remained second after beating Jazira 1-0 before they play Salt on Friday.

 Newcomers Mugheer Sarhan scored their first win since joining the Pro league as they scored the biggest upset of the week 3-2 over Shabab Urdun, while Aqaba stayed at 5th after a 0-0 draw with Ma’an.

This season’s competition promises an interesting challenge for clubs, especially after Ramtha broke the circle of champions last year and snatched the crown from traditional rivals Faisali and Wihdat. 

So far, matches that were decisive on current standings include the following: Hussein were held 1-1 with Faisali, but beat Shabab Urdun 1-0, and Ramtha 2-0; Faisali beat Ramtha 1-0, but were held 0-0- with Sahab; Shabab Urdun beat Jazira 3-2 as the latter were also held 1-1 with Ma’an and lost 3-1 to Ramtha; Wihdat beat Shabab Urdun 2-1 and Ramtha lost 1-0 to Salt.

In two of the 2022 competitions played so far, Faisali won the 35th Jordan Football Association (JFA) Shield title when they beat Ramtha in the season opening competition. Reigning league champs Ramtha upset Jordan Cup titleholders Faisali 2-0 in the 39th Jordan Super Cup. 

In the 2021 season, Ramtha won the Jordan Professional League title for the third time in their history ending a 39-year drought. Newcomers to the Pro League, relatively unknown Jalil, overcame Wihdat to win the 34th JFA Shield; Wihdat beat one-time winners Jazira in the 38th Jordan Super Cup, while Faisali beat Salt to win the Jordan Cup. 

Jordan teams have no 2022 regional presence

There will be no Jordanian representation in Asian events this season.

Just as local competitions kicked off, Wihdat were eliminated in the group stages of the continent’s leading tournament — the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League. The sole Jordanian team in the competition, who lost their Pro League title to Ramtha last season, had their league matches postponed as they played in Group E against Saudi Arabia’s Faisali, Uzbekistan’s FC Nasaf and Qatar’s Al Sadd. 

In 2021, Wihdat became the first of the Kingdom’s clubs to play in group stages of the AFC Champions League. Previously, none of the Kingdom’s clubs have ever made it past the AFC Champions League preliminary round where Faisali played in 2020 and 2018, Wihdat in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, and Shabab Urdun in 2014.

This season, league champ Ramtha and Jordan Cup champs Faisali will not be playing the second-tier Asian club competition — the AFC Cup — after Jordanian teams did not qualify to play due to financial and technical constraints. It will be the first time Jordanian teams miss the competition since 2005.

In 2021, Jordan’s Salt played their inaugural AFC Cup and were eliminated by three-time former champs Kuwait FC in the semifinals of the West Asia Zone. Jordan’s Faisali were knocked out of the event in the first round. 

Kuwait Club and the Iraqi Air Force Club are AFC Cup record winners having been crowned champs three times each. Faisali won the AFC Cup titles in 2005 and 2006, and Shabab Urdun won in 2007. Other Jordanian teams participating in previous editions include Wihdat, Ramtha, Jazira, Hussein, That Ras and Ahli. 

AMMAN — Jordanian rally drivers, Issa Abu Jamous and Ihab Al Shorafa, are relishing the challenge of maintaining superb starts to their challenge for MERC2 honours in this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), according to the Jordan Rally Media Service.

Abu Jamous will line up at the start of this weekend’s Jordan Rally currently enjoying a 26-point advantage in the FIA MERC2 Championship for Group NR4 machines, such as the latest derivatives of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and Subaru Impreza. 

 “My goal is to win the title,” said the Jordanian. “I returned to the world of rallying after a 12-year hiatus because of work commitments. I won the first national rally, which was a good preparation for me and my co-driver Imad Juma. I know it will be difficult competition at the Jordan Rally between Jordanian and other Arab competitors. But I am looking forward to the competition, maintaining the lead and also boosting my points in the main Middle East Championship. 

“The Jordan Rally is characterised by its difficulty and diversity of terrain and the participation of 26 local, Arab and international competitors will increase the strength of the competition. It’s also great to see the participation of young competitors in the rally, such as Shaker Juwaihan, Ameer Nassif and Ahmed Jankhut. My children will also have an influential role in motorsport very soon.”

Local rival Ihab Al Shorafa is his closest challenger after the first three rounds of the series in Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. Shorafa has 63 points and is 23 clear of his two nearest rivals. 

One of those is Meshari Al Thefiri, the defending FIA MERC2 champion, who impressed many with his turn of speed in a Rally2 Škoda Fabia in Kuwait back in March. Unfortunately, mechanical issues cost the Kuwaiti a potentially sensational result and he returns to the MERC2 section in Jordan to drive his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Thefiri said: “I have come here to win my category and to be on the podium. I am still waiting to hear from Škoda what the problem was in Kuwait when I was leading after day one. As soon as I turned on the engine on day two, I knew there was a problem and we didn’t finish. This was very frustrating. We have to learn from this. But, if I have no problems with the car. I believe I can win my group here.”

The series-leading trio’s main opposition could some from Lebanon’s Alex Feghali, the son of record breaking 15-time Rally of Lebanon winner Roger Feghali. The youngster teamed up with Georges Deaibess to finish third overall and second in MERC2 in Jordan last May. He finished the rally around two minutes behind Thefiri.

The group will be hotly contested as always, with Kuwait’s joint third-placed Mohammed Al Thefiri making another appearance and Oman’s Zakariya Al Aamri hoping to climb higher than his current fifth in the points’ standings. 

Other drivers on the entry include Jordanian drivers Shadi Shaban, Salameh Al Ghammez and Fadi Dahshan, all at the wheel of Mitsubishis, and Yousef Al Asmar in a Subaru Impreza.

On Wednesday, competitors complete their reconnaissance of the Bahath, Suwayma and Ma’in gravel special stages that they will face over the weekend. Administration checks will then take place at rally headquarters during the late afternoon.

Support for this year’s event comes from Zain Jordan, Mountain Dew, the Guarantee Travel Group, Hala and Bliss FM. 

AMMAN — Oman’s Abdullah Al Rawahi is in the Kingdom preparing for the Jordan Rally, this weekend’s fourth round of the 2022 FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) from May 19-21, according to the Jordan Rally Media Service.

The talented youngster has endured mixed fortunes at the start of this season’s regional rally series and heads to a dozen demanding gravel special stages in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas lying in third place in the Drivers’ Championship, a mere five points behind Jordan’s second-placed Issa Abu Jamous. Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah is the defending champion and leads the series at the halfway point. 

Rawahi secured points for fourth place in the season opener in his native Oman, finished a superb second overall in Qatar and then failed to add to his points’ tally in Kuwait after a heavy landing caused radiator issues and a subsequent engine failure.

Rawahi will team up with Jordanian co-driver Ata Al Hmoud again in Jordan and will drive his customary Oman Rally Team Škoda Fabia R2 evo.

The Omani said: “I am very excited for the Jordan Rally after a long wait for the fourth round of the championship. The last rally in Kuwait was really tough for us because we lost the engine. Hopefully, this time, we will have better luck with that. Jordan stages are quite familiar to me. That is where I actually started, so we are hoping to come back stronger and finish in the top three or even on the top spot!”

Friday’s three timed tests will be used in the morning and the afternoon and are centred around the Jordan Valley area to the north of the Dead Sea. 

The first of two passes through the Bahath stage gets the action under way on Saturday. Competitors then tackle a stage at Suwayma and the 17km of Ma’in 1, before returning to the service park before midday. The three specials will then be repeated in the afternoon.

Competitors will tackle 205.22 competitive kilometres in a route of 588.62km.

ROME — Novak Djokovic won his sixth Italian Open title on Sunday after a straight-sets victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) in Rome, while Iga Swiatek won her fifth straight tournament by dispatching Ons Jabeur.

World No. 1 Djokovic saw off underwhelming Monte Carlo Masters champion Tsitsipas to claim the last major tournament before Roland Garros gets underway later this month.

The 34-year-old won his first tournament of the season and confirmed his return to form after an opening few months of the season dominated by COVID-19 vaccination controversy. 

“I’ve been building my form for the last couple of weeks, and like the previous years, I knew that my best shape on the clay is usually coming around Rome time,” Djokovic said on the court. 

“So it couldn’t be a better time coming into Roland Garros with a title.”

Sunday’s clash was a rematch of the pair’s final at last year’s French Open final but had little of the drama of that five-set thriller won by the Serb in Paris.

Djokovic made surprisingly short work of Greece’s Tsitsipas, who had also reached the semifinals of last week’s tournament in Madrid and still leads the men’s tour for wins this season.

Ranked fifth in the world, Tsitsipas was taken apart in the first set and looked oddly reluctant to take on Djokovic, but put up more of a fight in the second right until he threw away the set after serving for the match, succumbing in the tie-break without much resistance.

An emotional Djokovic then spoke to the crowd in Italian, telling them that they were the reason he had such a good record there and revealing his son Stefan was playing in his first ever tennis tournament.

“It’s a very special day obviously. I never forced him to play tennis, it was fully his decision that he wanted to play tournaments,” added Djokovic.

“He’s playing a club tournament, just a small one but it’s very meaningful for him and for me.”

Iga Swiatek said she was going to treat Roland Garros as “any other tournament” after beating Jabeur 6-2, 6-2 to retain the women’s title.

World No. 1 Swiatek dropped to her knees in tears of joy after winning her 28th match in a row, and will be red-hot favourite in Paris.

“I’m going to treat it as any other tournament, I think it’s going to be fine and I’m going to be able to keep it that way,” said Swiatek.

“I already know that I did some great stuff this season, so I feel like I can just play freely and not think I have to win.”

The 20-year-old Pole has dropped just one set in her last 20 matches and calmly dealt with Jabeur in a largely one-sided final in Rome.

Tunisia’s Jabeur had made history last week after becoming the first Arab or African woman to win a WTA 1000 title but could not extend a career-best 11-match winning streak against her relentless opponent.

Jabeur had come into her first Rome final on a roasting Foro Italico centre court on the back of two thrilling comeback wins over Daria Kasatkina and Maria Sakkari.

And another unlikely comeback bid looked to be on when, a set down, she had three break points in game seven of the second set to take it to 4-3, only to lose the game after wasting another break chance at deuce.

“When she doubled faulted at deuce I was like ‘why didn’t she do that a point or two points before?’,” said Jabeur.

“I did everything I can, I hit every corner of the court.”

Jabeur has moved up one place in the world ranking to sixth after reaching her second straight final and remains a force for the French Open.

LONDON — Mikel Arteta launched a scathing attack on referee Paul Tierney after Tottenham beat 10-man Arsenal 3-0 on Thursday to keep alive their hopes of finishing in the Premier League’s top four.

Antonio Conte’s side would have been eliminated from the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League if they had lost to their bitter north London rivals.

But Harry Kane tormented Arsenal once again as the Tottenham striker opened the scoring with a controversial penalty.

Crucially, Arsenal’s Rob Holding was sent off for two bookings in seven minutes.

Kane netted again before the interval and Son Heung-min bagged Tottenham’s third goal in the second half.

Instead of sealing a return to the Champions League for the first time since the 2016-17 season, fourth-placed Arsenal now face a nerve-jangling conclusion to the top-four battle.

Arsenal still hold a slender advantage, but the end of their four-match winning run leaves them just one point ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham, with both sides having two games left.

Gunners boss Arteta was furious with both the penalty and red card, saying: “If I say what I think I’m suspended for six months. I don’t know how to lie so I prefer not to say what I think.

“I cannot give my opinion. I think you can read my body language very clearly. I’m not unhappy with my players. I’m proud of my players. 

“I want the referees to come in front of the camera and explain his decisions. It’s a shame because such a beautiful game was destroyed today.”

Conte said several weeks ago that it would be a “miracle” if Tottenham reached the Champions League given their lowly position when he replaced the sacked Nuno Espirito Santo in November.

But their victory in arguably the biggest north London derby since Arsenal won the league at White Hart Lane in 2004 ensured that miracle could still come true.

Tottenham host struggling Burnley on Sunday then travel to relegated Norwich, while Arteta’s men visit Newcastle on Monday and entertain Everton.

Having masterminded Tottenham’s largest league win over Arsenal since 1983, Conte called on his players to maintain the momentum against Burnley.

“We won an important derby and now we are close to them in the table. For sure, we need to recover very well because we will play on Sunday against a team that has beaten us,” he said.

“I was very clear with my players, to enjoy and celebrate in the right way but at the same time think about Sunday as otherwise this win will not be important.”

Kane stars

As well as the huge European stakes for both sides, Tottenham also felt lingering resentment about Arsenal’s successful appeal to have this fixture postponed in January due to Covid and injury problems.

The acrimony did not take long to boil over in the deafening atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Amid the maelstrom, it was Tottenham who landed the first blow after 22 minutes.

Cedric Soares collided with Son as they contested Dejan Kulusevski’s cross in the six-yard box and the contact was enough to convince Tierney to award a penalty.

Arsenal surrounded Tierney to complain angrily, but Kane stepped up to send Aaron Ramsdale the wrong way with a nerveless spot-kick.

Arsenal were shell-shocked and the game shifted decisively in Tottenham’s favour in the 33rd minute.

Eric Dier’s long pass targeted Son and Holding crudely blocked his path with his shoulder, a needless offence that prompted Tierney to send off the defender for his second booking.

Scenting blood, Tottenham doubled their lead four minutes after Holding’s premature exit.

Rodrigo Bentancur flicked on a corner and Kane stooped to head home from virtually on the line as Conte celebrated with a jig of delight.

Kane, the top scorer in north London derby history in all competitions, now has 13 goals in 17 meetings with Arsenal, who must rue the day they rejected him as a eight-year-old.

The night got even better for Conte in the 47th minute as Kane rolled Gabriel and the ball broke for Son to clip a deft finish into the corner.

LOS ANGELES — The Milwaukee Bucks erased a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to beat Boston 110-107 on Wednesday and push the Celtics to the brink of NBA playoff elimination as the Memphis Grizzlies stayed alive with a 134-95 drubbing of Golden State.

The Grizzlies, facing elimination and playing without injured All-Star guard Ja Morant, weren’t about to go out on their home floor.

They raced to a 38-28 first-quarter lead and never trailed as they cut the deficit in their best-of-seven Western Conference series to 3-2, sending it back to San Francisco on Friday.

“We just stuck to the game plan,” said Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr, one of three Memphis players with 21 points.

“We knew what was at stake. We didn’t change anything though, we just calmed down, looked at the film, understood what we had to take away from the last game and just went out there and executed.”

Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones also scored 21 for the Grizzlies, who had seven players score in double figures in the wire-to-wire win.

Klay Thompson led the Warriors with 19 points.

Jonathan Kuminga added 17 and superstar Stephen Curry scored 14 on four-of-10 shooting for the Warriors, who coughed up 22 turnovers leading to 29 Grizzlies points.

“It was awful, embarrassing,” Thompson said. “We all had the mindset we were going to close it out tonight, but sometimes basketball is an inexact science and we played like a shell of ourselves.”

The Grizzlies outrebounded the Warriors 55-37 and led them 24-5 in second-chance points.

Up by as many as 55 late in the third quarter, the Grizzlies were flirting with NBA history, with the largest margin ever in the play-offs — 58 points.

It was a massive comedown for the Warriors, who played their second straight game with head coach Steve Kerr sidelined by COVID-19.

The third quarter hadn’t ended when stars Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green were pulled by acting coach Mike Brown.

In contrast, it came down to the wire in Boston, where Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 40 points and Bobby Portis and Jrue Holiday came up big late as the reigning NBA champion Bucks rallied to take a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference series.

Reserve forward Portis put back Antetokounmpo’s missed free throw with 11.4 seconds remaining to give the Bucks a 108-107 lead.

Jrue Holiday plucked an attempted shot by Marcus Smart from the air with 8.1 seconds remaining before teammate Pat Connaughton added a pair of free throws to seal the comeback for a Bucks team that trailed by 14 early in the fourth quarter.

Milwaukee took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series, and will have a chance to close it out when they host game six on Friday.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 60 points for the Celtics, who took control with a 28-19 second quarter that saw them take a 54-47 halftime lead.

They maintained the edge throughout the third, but the Bucks didn’t back down.

Connaughton’s three-pointer with 7:34 to play cut the deficit to 98-90. Jrue Holiday added a jump shot to cut the margin to 101-99.

Three-pointers from Antetokounmpo and Holiday knotted the score at 105-105 with 43.2 seconds left, setting the stage for a dramatic finish.

“Obviously, in Boston, you’re down 14 in the fourth quarter, people would say everything’s against us. But we come together,” Holiday said. “We live and die like that.”

Holiday added 24 points for Milwaukee while Portis scored 14 and Connaughton 13 off the bench.

“We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do,” said Smart, who scored 15 points for the Celtics. “We didn’t execute when we were supposed to, and when it mattered the most, they did.”

Celtics coach Ime Udoka said it was a bitter defeat after “we outplayed them for three and a half quarters.

“We talked about showing our resolve, and we made it tougher on ourselves now,” Udoka said. “We gave up a golden opportunity tonight.”

WOLVERHAMPTON, United Kingdom — Pep Guardiola described Kevin De Bruyne’s form as “beyond perfect” after the Belgian scored four goals in a 5-1 thrashing of Wolves that took Manchester City another step closer to retaining the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola’s men move three points clear of Liverpool with two games to play and boosted their goal difference to seven superior to the Reds.

City need just four points from Sunday’s trip to West Ham and the visit of Aston Villa on the final day of the season to be crowned champions for the fourth time in five years.

And with De Bruyne on this form, they will take some stopping as the Belgian produced his brilliant best to blow away the hosts with a hat-trick inside 24 minutes.

“The second part of the league was beyond perfect,” said Guardiola of De Bruyne’s form. “He is so generous. He always has the sense to make an assist, but now he is more clinical. He has the sense to score goals.

“He has been decisive scoring goals, this is what makes him the greatest. Scoring four goals in the decisive part of the league right now is so important.”

City broke the news on Tuesday that they have beaten Europe’s top clubs to the signature of Erling Haaland.

However, even the Norwegian goalscoring phenomenon would struggle to match the range of finishes off both feet dispatched by De Bruyne.

In keeping with their form in recent weeks, City looked to have dispelled any early nerves by scoring first as Bernardo Silva teed up De Bruyne to fire first time across Jose Sa.

The visitors, though, were without three key defenders in Kyle Walker, John Stones and Ruben Dias through injury and it showed.

Pedro Neto was allowed to gallop clear into the City box and picked out Leander Dendoncker to level on 11 minutes.

Parity only lasted another five minutes as De Bruyne was both creator and executioner of City’s second.

Raheem Sterling failed to connect with his pass through the heart of the Wolves defence, but Sa could only turn the ball back into De Bruyne’s path and he made no mistake.

The best was yet to come from the 30-year-old as he took aim from outside the box and arrowed a shot into the bottom corner to complete a hat-trick, with all three goals scored by his supposedly weaker left foot.

“My right is the stronger foot but I’m never afraid to shoot with my left because it creates a problem for the opposition,” said De Bruyne. “Whenever you get the opportunity, don’t hesitate.”

‘Should’ve been five’

De Bruyne’s was the third quickest hat-trick in Premier League history and his first since he played for Genk 11 years ago.

But there was even more to come after the break as he slotted home on his right foot after Phil Foden’s cross was deflected into his path.

More defensive injuries to Laporte and Fernandinho were the only negative of the night for City.

Yet, any deficiencies at the back are being masked by the firepower of Guardiola’s men at the moment.

Since a 2-2 draw with Liverpool left the title race still on a knife edge last month, City have scored 23 goals in five games.

Foden hit the post and Sterling missed a sitter with the goal gaping at the back post.

But Sterling could not miss another open goal when Joao Cancelo’s deflected cross fell his way six minutes from time.

De Bruyne nearly had time for a fifth of his own in the final minute as he curled off the post.

“When you score four goals it’s something special,” added De Bruyne. “It should’ve been five to be honest.”

However, another five-star performance was more than enough for City to give Liverpool little sign of encouragement they will cede ground down the home straight.