A team this special comes along once in a Blue Moon

City's demolition of the 14-time European champions made Real look like pub team

- JEREMY CROSS

IT was beautiful and brutal in equal measure.

And it was also the most convincing stake yet of Manchester City's claim to be the greatest team to ever grace English football.

This eternal debate has no defining answer because it's impossible to compare sides from different generations.

But what City's deadly demolition of Real Madrid did confirm is that Pep Guardiola's team are special indeed.

True greatness is unfolding before us as the Premier League champions close in what would be only the second continental Treble in history for an English side - and first this century.

It takes a team of astonishing quality, endurance and desire to pull this off.

What Guardiola has moulded in the blue half of Manchester has all three of these qualities in startling abundance. And then some. There is a caveat to all this success, of course.