Manchester City’s new owners want their club to be playing in the Champions League as soon as possible and there were signs last night that they will get their wish ahead of schedule. The Uefa Cup may have lost some of its sheen recently, but playing Schalke 04 in front of their own supporters is a tough task. No English team had beaten Schalke in Germany before last night and even Chelsea failed to leave Gelsenkirchen with more than a point in the Champions League last season.

A goal in each half, by Benjani Mwaruwari and Stephen Ireland, ensured that City succeeded where Chelsea had failed and left Mark Hughes’s team top of group A and assured of qualification to the knockout stage. The draw between Paris Saint-Germain — City’s next opponents — and Racing Santander means that Hughes’s side can finish no worse than third.

“It’s been a great week,” Hughes said. “We’ve beaten Arsenal comprehensively and we coped easily with Schalke. People may have felt that playing Arsenal, Schalke and Manchester United in a week would be beyond us, but I know the quality I have in my squad.”

There was good news for Sir Alex Ferguson when the teams were displayed on the four television screens above the centre circle of the Veltins Arena before the game. The Manchester United manager would have been delighted that Hughes selected his strongest available team only three days before the Manchester derby.

Robinho did not travel to Germany but the Brazil forward is expected to have recovered from an ankle injury in time to play against United at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday. “Hopefully, we’ll have some good news \ when we get back to Manchester,” Hughes said.

The City manager made only two changes to the team who beat Arsenal last weekend, with Didier Hamann replacing Pablo Zabaleta, who was sidelined with a thigh strain, and Daniel Sturridge starting in place of Robinho. Hamann was neat and tidy but it was Sturridge, the 19-year-old forward, who caught the eye, tormenting his marker, Rafinha, and tracking back when his team lost possession.

Bayern Munich were the only team to have beaten Schalke at home this season and Fred Rutten’s side were in no mood to let down their 50,000 supporters in the early stages under the closed roof of the stadium where Portugal knocked England out of the World Cup in 2006.

Schalke’s domination of the opening period was almost total and City spent the first 20 minutes on the back foot as the German side tried to make an early breakthrough. Joe Hart, the City goalkeeper, made three excellent saves, the pick of which was a full-length stretch to his right to keep out a low strike by Jermaine Jones after eight minutes. The Germany midfield player tested Hart again soon after but it was City who took the lead against the run of play in the 31st minute.

Kevin Kuranyi has become a target of the Schalke boo-boys and the Germany forward was at fault in the build-up to City’s goal. Kuranyi gave away the ball in his own half, allowing Sturridge to race down the left wing and cross for Benjani to score his second goal of the season with a simple right-foot finish at the far post. Kuranyi walked out of the Germany squad last month and he was nowhere to be seen when City profited from his mistake.

The goal shattered Schalke’s confidence and encouraged their fans to turn on their team. Ireland thought he had doubled City’s advantage seven minutes before half-time but his close-range effort was disallowed for offside.

Ireland, playing in a defensive midfield role alongside Hamann, was excellent and after the interval, scenting that Schalke were there for the taking, he began to venture farther forward. It was no surprise when he increased City’s lead midway through the second half. Schalke failed to clear Benjani’s blocked shot and Ireland had the simple task of tapping the ball past Manuel Neuer, the goalkeeper.

Three points against Arsenal on Saturday and three points against Schalke on Thursday. Another three points against United on Sunday would round off a stunning week for City. “The work that we are doing on the training ground is beginning to pay off,” Hughes said. “The whole team were outstanding from start to finish.”

Schalke (4-2-1-3): M Neuer - Rafinha, H Westermann, M Bordon (sub: B Howedes, 73min), C Pander - J Jones, O Engelaar - I Rakitic (sub: G Asamoah, 62) - J Farfán, K Kuranyi, H Altintop (sub: V Sanchez, 79). Substitutes not used: M Schober, L Kobiashvili, F Ernst, C Zambrano.

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): J Hart - M Richards, V Kompany, R Dunne, J Garrido (sub: M Ball, 46min)- D Hamann, S Ireland - D Vassell, S Wright-Phillips, D Sturridge - Benjani Mwaruwari (sub: Jo, 84). Substitutes not used: K Schmeichel, C Evans, T Ben-Haim, S Logan, B Glauber. Booked: Richards, Ireland.

Referee: A Tudor (Romania).