Welcome along to some rare Wednesday evening Europa League action as we take you through Manchester City’s Round of 32, second leg tie with current holders Porto.

There’s already been big news at the club today as Carlos Tevez finally came to his senses and apologised to the club for his behaviour during a five month absence from the team. You can read all about that here.

City have no injuries worries to deal with but bring in Sergio Aguero for Mario Balotelli, who has to settle for a place on the bench. Porto, meanwhile, make two changes from the weekend as Alex Sandro and Argentine defender Nicolas Otamendi replace Alvaro Pereira and Danilo.

Man City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, De Jong, Nasri, Yaya Toure, Silva, Aguero. Subs: Pantilimon, Zabaleta, Milner, Pizarro, Dzeko, Savic, Balotelli.

FC Porto: Helton, Maicon, Rolando, Alex Sandro, Otamendi, Gonzalez, Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez, Fernando, Varela, Hulk. Subs: Bracali, Cristian Rodriguez, Kleber, Djalma, Sapunaru, Defour, Podstawski.

Random fact about the game’s referee, Wolfgang Stark.

Former Ireland captain and ITV pundit Andy Townsend was mistaken as the German whistleblower by a band of abusive fans in a Madrid restaurant last year after he had just sent off Pepe and Jose Mourinho during Real Madrid’s 2-0 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League.

Porto trail 2-1 from the first leg after Sergio Aguero’s late winner and have a poor record in England which, compared to City’s excellent home form, means Vitor Pereira’s side are facing a pretty tough challenge to progress to the last 16. Minutes to kick-off here…

Lucho Gonzalez and Silvestre Varela tip off to signal the game’s start.

GOAL! Manchester City 1 (3) Porto 0 (1) (Sergio Aguero)

Deary me, that didn’t take long. Otamendi plays a slopping pass straight to De Jong, who finds Yaya Toure. The Ivorian midfielder slots a delightful ball through to Aguero, who finishes into the bottom corner for his 20th goal of the season. After just 19 seconds of play. Wow.

Porto have strung together some nice football since the goal but are being  harried by Toure, Barry and De Jong in the middle of the park. Aguero gets away from Rolando in the centre circle and is blatantly pulled back by Rolando, prompting Mr Stark to brandish the first yellow card.

Just been the one chance on goal in the opening 15 minutes then.

Great chance for City to double their lead. Silva threads through a super ball to Toure, but Helton is out like a light to close down. His second attempt is wild and sails over the bar.

Down the other end, Hart stands strong to block Varela’s effort.

We’ve managed to get our hands on a clip of the goal. And what’s ours is yours.

YouTube credit: UserControl2012

Porto have got themselves a free-kick in a dangerous position here as James Rodriguez is brought down on the edge of the box… Joao Moutinho steps up and gets the ball over the wall but fails to bring it back down in time.

Aguero deserved his second of the night with that big of magic. Silva picks out the Argentinian’s run and the man nicknamed ‘El Kun’ nods past an onrushing Helton before floating a delicate ball over the head of the last man. It agonisingly clips the underside of the bar, however, and bounces back into play.

Five minutes of neat exchanges between Porto’s front six ends in an ambitious strike from Gonzalez sailing over. For all their slick passing, Porto have only troubled the one time when Hart was more than up to the challenge.

David Silva finds a yard 20 yards out and has a pop. When that shot is deflected out for a corner, a challenge on Helton sees the ball loose in the box. The visitors eventually clear.

That was wasteful from City. Aguero breaks on the shoulder of the last man, then squares into space for Toure to run into. He turns back onto his right foot before finding his team-mate again, but Aguero blasts a shot well wide.

Hulk’s free-kick is hit with some venom but De Jong puts his body on the line to redirect the strike out for a corner. When the falls for Otamendi, the defender fails to get underneath the ball and slices it far too high.

Half-time whistle is imminent…

Half-time: Manchester City 1 (3) Porto 0 (1)

So Aguero’s goal was the fastest in this season’s competition, beating Mike Taison of Metalist Kharkiv by one second. While AEK Athens attacker Ismael Blanco boasts the quickest in the Europa League under in its current guise, Manchester United cast-off David Bellion took just 11 seconds to find the back of the net for Bordeaux against Galatasaray in 2009, an all-time UEFA Cup record.

Second 45 about to get underway. ‘Blue Moon’ belts out around the Etihad Stadium/Eastlands. City fans feeling confident and rightly so. Porto not quite dead and buried yet though.

Quick free-kick catches City on the hop and Gonzalez is allowed a shot from 18 yards. It’s not far away but didn’t look to be troubling Hart.

Hulk, who has switched wings to his favoured left since half-time, gets the better of Micah Richards and whips a super ball into that area between the defenders and the keeper.

Richards has now gone down injured after a clearance and is going to be replaced by James Milner by the looks of things.

Porto have the ball in the back of the net… but it’s been ruled offside. A cross by Maicon pinballs off a defender and to the feet of James Rodriguez, who scores from a couple of yards out. Replays show Hulk was in an offside position, however.

Meanwhile, Richards hobbles back on but still seems in some pain. Milner has been introduced, but it is in place of Gareth Barry.

Ouch! Nasty looking injury for Otamendi there, who gets a full-force boot in the left eye from team-mate Maicon. Play has been stopped while he receives attention.

That is the end of Otamendi’s night as Pereira makes a double substitution. Romanian defender Cristian Sapunaru comes on in his place and Varela makes way for Uruguayan schemer Cristian Rodriguez. 25 minutes remain.

The trailing leg of Toure takes down Moutinho about 30 yards out and he will now miss the first leg of the next round if they do progress tonight. Hulk’s execution is poor for the resulting free.

Mancini has introduced Edin Dzeko for Samir Nasri and Mario Balotelli is gone jogging up and down the line, so could be next. Another cross is drilled in by Hulk, but comes to nothing.

Look who’s popped in to watch his former team by the way…

Credit: Mike Egerton/EMPICS Sport

GOAL! Manchester City 2 (4) Porto 0 (1) (Edin Dzeko)

Dzeko’s name will be on this goal, but it was all Aguero. Skipping inside off the left flank, he delays the pass and rolls a perfectly-weighted ball to the feet of his strike partner, who has the easy task of tucking the ball under the body of Helton.

Rolando, who is already on a yellow card, receives his marching orders for persistent complaining to the referee.

The Etihad Stadium show their appreciation to Aguero as he wanders off to be replaced by new signing David Pizarro. He’s clearly been the man of the match tonight. Porto withdraw James Rodriquez for Belgian international Steven Defour.

GOAL! Manchester City 3 (5) Porto 0 (1) (David Silva)

Pizarro has his first meaningful involvement with an assist. The Chilean bursts into the box, plays a one-two with Dzeko and puts the ball on the plate for Silva to tap home.

GOAL! Manchester City 4 (6) Porto 0 (1) (David Pizarro)

The former Roma midfielder goes one better minutes later with his first goal for the club after some neat play in the final third.

Substitute Defour, who Alex Ferguson tracked during his days at Standard Liege, has a shot on goal but Hart gets the block in.

Full-time: Manchester City 4 (6) Porto 0 (1)

“Today we showed how serious we are about this competition and it’s a great result against the holders,” City captain Vincent Kompany.

“Porto is a top team. It is not easy – in the end we won 4-0 but maybe that was too much. It was important to get the early goal,” says Roberto Mancini, who tells reporters that he has accepted the apology from Carlos Tevez.

So the Citizens cruise into the last 16 of the Europa League, where they will face another Portuguese side in Sporting Lisbon or Legia Warsaw, who drew 2-2 in the first leg. This is what they can expect if Legia emerge from that one. Elsewhere, Manchester United should join them tomorrow as they lead Ajax 2-0 going into the game at Old Trafford.

In the Champions League, Sean is about to begin our second liveblog of the night as Inter Milan head to France for a meeting with Marseille so get yourself over there. Stay classy!