Kharkiv is an unlikely holiday destination but, as midnight approached and the final whistle blew, Pep Guardiola bore the serene look of a man who had just spent a week unwinding at a tropical resort.

David Silva’s scoring volley and creation of a second goal for Aymeric Laporte not only greatly enhanced Manchester City’s chances of escaping a tight group and progressing to the knockout stages but de-stressed their noticeably edgy coach. By the time Bernardo Silva made it three courtesy of his first touch – namely a 20 yard shot which went in off a post – Guardiola’s technical area prowling was no longer reminiscent of a cat on a hot tin roof. City had moved to the top of Group F and the returning Kevin De Bruyne had reminded everyone of his rare class.

“It’s in our hands,” said Guardiola who, not surprisingly, struggled to stop smiling. “The first half was the best we’ve played in the past few seasons, we were outstanding. We were under pressure after losing the first game to Lyon but now we can control our destiny. It was so important to get this win here. To score three goals against Shakhtar here is amazing, an incredible result.”

After becoming Europe’s highest paid manager and spending £500m since taking charge of the world’s wealthiest club in 2016 Guardiola is expected to choreograph Champions League glory – and, preferably, sooner rather than later.

Perhaps he has been feeling the pressure as, on the eve of the game, Guardiola suggested City were still missing something “special” before berating fans for declining to fully buy into the European dream.

It seemed rather harsh on those 825 travelling supporters who had made the 1,650 mile journey to eastern Ukraine; with some taking three separate flights to a fixture which kicked off at 10pm local time.

That travelling band were appeased by De Bruyne’s welcome restoration to the starting XI after injuring his knee and looking anything but ring rusty. Indeed the Belgian’s adhesive touch and elusive movement represented a principal reason why City dominated so easily with John Stones rarely tested in his ersatz right back role.

The war in Donbass between Ukrainian armed forces and Russian-backed separatists dictates that Paulo Fonseca’s Shakhtar are exiled to Kharkiv on match days. As the night time temperature plumetted, they received impressive highly charge support but it could not compensate for the absence of two key creators in Taison and Marlos.

Without his fellow south American’s promptings, the Brazilian striker Junior Moraes offered few hints of the form which has seen him score in virtually every appearance this season.

Yet as the chill began biting, Shakhtar warmed up sufficiently to sporadically irritate their guests by interrupting City’s fluency and Ismaily’s overlapping incursions from left-back started troubling Stones a little.

Ditto Fernando’s powers of left wing acceleration and quite startling change of pace. Yet such cameos remained relatively isolated; if a clever back-heel which might have created a goal reminded everyone of Moraes’s talent, Riyad Mahrez shot narrowly wide as City counterattacked.

As Guardiola’s players barraged his goal Andriy Pyatov moved sharply off his line to block Gabriel Jesus’s path following David Silva’s reverse pass. Silva was settling into a familiarly glorious groove and, after connecting with Mahrez’s cross, volleyed against an upright.

City’s captain for the night then went one better, lashing a supremely assured left-foot volley beyond Pyatov after Jesus’s shot was deflected into his path. Instructively, Silva’s goal prefaced a slightly manic technical area celebration on Guardiola’s part; there was a definite sense of tension evaporating. “David does everything perfect. Another incredible performance from him.”

With the former Shakhtar cult hero, Fernandinho’s control of central midfield ensuring that City dominated possession their manager’s underlying fears of unscheduled group stage elimination were further banished by Laporte. When Benjamin Mendy’s shot was palmed away from a corner all that remained was for Silva to execute the set piece and the unmarked centre-half headed past Pyatov.

Shakhtar were clearly second best but, even though Ismaily blocked a goal-bound Silva shot, they still had their moments. How the Metalist cursed as Mykola Matviyenko headed fractionally wide and the underemployed Ederson reacted smartly to parry Ismaily’s shot.

Such scares seemed irrelevant as Bernardo Silva replaced the tiring De Bruyne and instantly benefited from Jesus’s decoy run to shoot the third. A few days in Ukraine had left Guardiola with the contented glow of a man checking out of a health spa.