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Manchester City qualified for the Champions League group stage for the first time with a resounding 5-2 win over CSKA Moscow, with Manuel Pellegrini warning that no team in the competition would be "happy" to face his side.
City sealed their passage with an Álvaro Negredo hat-trick and a Sergio Agüero double. Each of them also scored in the 7-0 win here over Norwich City on Saturday, which made 12 goals in total for the club in their past two games.
Agüero became City's top finisher in Europe with the two strikes against CSKA, a penalty after three minutes and the later finish taking him to 12 goals to overtake Francis Lee's mark of 10.
The Argentinian has 13 in 13 City appearances this campaign and Negredo, in his debut season for the club, has nine in 16 outings.
Pellegrini was asked how the pair compare with the Liverpool partnership of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suárez and Manchester United's Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney. "I think both of them have played really well not only today but the whole season," he said.
"For Sergio he is in a great moment, because he is not only scoring but his movement and his contribution to the team is important. Álvaro too. They have got the goals they deserve.
"It is important to have such quality of striker but for both of them I think it is important the way the team is playing and we are backing up their efforts brilliantly. In the past three days we have scored 12 goals and again, as a group, what we are doing is impressive.
"We have a strong team, the minimum target is to qualify for the next round but it is not our only target. We have a strong squad, we will see who we will play in February, but I can assure you they will not be very happy to play against us."
The City playmakers Samir Nasri and David Silva were also among the most impressive performers. "The pair are very good players who are playing very well but the way we are playing, too, gives them freedom and [that] is important for them," said the manager.
"The strikers combining up front allows them to play very well and to interact in the forward line, so I think it is a mix of factors why they are playing so well at this time. It is [also] important not to forget about Yaya [Touré] and Fernandinho, because they are producing a lot of quality passing from the midfield."
Pellegrini believes that City can match any team. "I think we can beat any side now, when we play at our best," he said. "But at this level the most important teams can also beat us – I think the most important teams in Italy, Spain and France are competitive. So we will see where we go now."
Pellegrini wants City to top the group, which would mean them having to beat Viktoria Plzen, then Bayern Munich who recorded an emphatic 3-1 win at the Etihad last month. "Of course we are going to try and top the group," the manager said. "It is important to try and do that and we will keep trying to the end to get above Bayern."
After Touré was racially abused in the reverse fixture a fortnight ago there appeared no repeat of any incidents. Three of the Russian club's fans were arrested, though this was reportedly for fighting among themselves.
Touré said: "We must say thank you to the [City] fans today, they showed the fans of CSKA how to support a team. Today is a special day. The target is to go as far as possible. It's amazing, it's history for the club."
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