Guardiola praises Sterling after UCL match against Atalanta
The England forward struck three times in the space of 11 minutes after Sergio Aguero had netted twice to cancel out Ruslan Malinovsky's penalty opener for the visitors at the Etihad Stadium.
City's victory lifted it five points clear at the top of Group C with three games still to play after Shakhtar Donetsk salvaged a 2-2 draw with Dinamo Zagreb in the other match.
However, there were a couple of negatives for City as midfielder Phil Foden was sent off for two bookable offences and Rodri hobbled off injured.