This is why Pep Guardiola loves Raheem Sterling so much.

Guardiola had called on his players to produce a display to “seduce” the Manchester City fans into falling for the Champions League after years of apathy.

They failed to heed his plea until Sterling came off the bench to score within 10 minutes of his introduction to Guardiola’s huge relief.

Sterling scored his 11th goal for club and country this season midway through the second half to make it five wins on the bounce for City and put them in control of their Champions League group.

He has an impressive tally of 41 goals for City and England since the start of last season and is blossoming into the world-class talent Guardiola always knew he would become.

Pep Guardiola introduced Raheem Sterling in the second half against Dinamo Zagreb

If that were not enough, Sterling set up Phil Foden to bag their second in stoppage time.

Sterling rescued City on a night when their other creative players misfired in front of goal to show he can make up for the absence of the injured Kevin De Bruyne.

He helped City to a fifth straight win and they are in control of their Champions League group going into their double-header against newbies Atlanta, who have lost their two games.

But Guardiola was still far from happy and he was booked by Dutch referee Serdar Gozubuyuk for protesting too much about his poor handling of the game.

Guardiola was right to be annoyed with Gozubuyuk and City should have had at least two penalties for handball against Kevin Theophile-Catherine and a foul on Sergio Aguero.

Sterling came to Manchester City's rescue by opening the scoring

City created chance after chance with their intricate passing, only to be denied by a mixture of bad luck and suspect officiating, but mostly poor finishing.

Dinamo could not handle Aguero and he was thwarted by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic when he attempted to round him before firing over after a deft turn to create an opening.

Bernardo Silva shot over before wastefully slicing a volley wide of the post. Then David Silva scuffed a shot wide from Benjamin Mendy’s cross, while Ilkay Gundogan grazed the top of the bar with a right-foot drive.

To compound City’s frustration they were denied a penalty when Gozubuyuk and VAR failed to spot former Cardiff defender Theophile-Catherine’s handball.

David Silva also appealed in vain when he went down, rather too easily, in a tussle with Petar Stojanovic.

The England superstar provided the assist for Phil Foden to wrap up victory

City’s makeshift centre-half pairing of Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho were barely tested and Ederson comfortably saved Emir Dilaver’s header from Marin Leovac’s corner in the only threat on the Blues’ goal.

Dinamo, who had lost their last four visits to England, began to sense a famous result and they had 10 men behind the ball, before Sterling’s introduction changed the game.

He crowned a beautiful, flowing City move which culminated in Rodri finding Riyad Mahrez on the left and he centred for the England star to score from five yards out.

Guardiola sunk on his hunches, fists clenched in his technical area, in a clear sign of what they goal meant to him.

Dinamo’s resolve was finally broken and substitute Foden slotted home to give City a second goal their dominance more than deserved.