Bristol City v Manchester City: FA Cup fifth round – live

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Half-time advertisement. Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!

HALF TIME: Bristol City 0-1 Manchester City

There’s just enough time for Phillips to slice a weak shot miles right from distance, and that’s the end of the first half. The champions of England hit the front early, but the hosts have held firm since, while looking lively up the other end too. Nigel Pearson will be happy enough with that. Pep Guardiola might want a little more from his men in order to wrap this up. A reminder that this will go to extra time if it ends in a draw, with penalties to follow if necessary. Pep won’t be wanting that.

45 min +1: The first of two bonus first-half minutes passes by without incident.

45 min: Foden gets a yard on Tanner down the left and crosses deep, only for Kalas to spectacularly slice out of play for a corner. Bristol City half clear. The ball’s swung back in from the left. Dias attempts to sweep home from ten yards, only for Pring to throw himself in the road and take the sting out of the shot. O’Leary gathers.

43 min: Ajanki is caught on the edge of his own box by Wells, and earns the first talking-to of the evening. No yellow though.

42 min: It’s so nearly two. A cute flick by Alvarez sends Foden into space down the inside-left channel. Foden passes to De Bruyne on his outside. De Bruyne enters the box and flashes a shot over the bar. You’d have expected him to hit the target at the very least. But he’s getting closer. Another couple of gears, and he’ll be back up to speed.

40 min: Foden demonstrates that he’s fine to continue by bringing down a high ball with absurd ease while hovering in mid-air. Left foot as plush cushion.

39 min: Foden hares in from the left flank and runs slap bang into Scott’s shoulder. He goes down, having felt that one. There was no malicious intent on the part of the Bristol City star, and happily Foden is able to get back up quickly enough.

37 min: Scott dribbles purposefully into the Manchester City box from the left, forcing Phillips to concede a corner. James sends a decent delivery towards the near post, where a couple of all-new post-Hummel red shirts are lurking … but Phillips finishes the tidying up job by heading clear.

35 min: Kalas strips a snoozing De Bruyne in the centre circle and sets Bell off down the left. Bell drifts infield before sending a speculative shot high over the bar. “I think we can safely say now that Guardiola is looking rattled,” begins five-decade-long Robins fan Kim Thonger. “Pearson’s clever gambit of deliberately donating an early goal has produced the desired effect, overconfidence and lethargy. Obsession with maintaining 65% of possession is clouding Pep’s judgement. The Robins’ equaliser and eventual triumph is only a matter of time. We’re already 2-1 up on corners by the way.”

City manager Pep Guardiola speaks to Julian Alvarez. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

33 min: De Bruyne cuts in from the left and blooters a wild effort high and wide from distance. He’s not yet back up to speed after a couple of games out ill … although we know how performances like this often pan out. Bristol City beware if he rediscovers his groove soon.

31 min: Lewis advances down the inside-left channel this time, from deep inside his own half and into Bristol City territory. He slides a pass out to De Bruyne on the left. De Bruyne takes too long over what to do next, and the momentum of the attack is jiggered.

29 min: James dinks a pass down the left in the hope of releasing Wells. Lewis reads the danger and heads back to Ortega.

28 min: Some head tennis in midfield. The pace of the game has dropped a bit, while multi-pass moves are at a premium right now.

26 min: Lewis drives down the inside-right channel and sprays a pass wide left for Foden. A promising attack comes to an ignominious end when Foden slips onto the seat of his trousers. The home fans enjoyed that.

24 min: Nothing comes of the corner.

23 min: Ake plays a cute pass round the corner and down the left, intended for Silva. Not quite. Manchester City come again, though, Mahrez coming in from the right to meet a deep left-wing cross, aiming a half-volley towards the top left. O’Leary is beaten, buy Kalas heads off the line at the expense of a corner.

21 min: Bristol City have been superb despite conceding that early goal. They’re giving as good as they’re getting. “Just look at Bristol’s line-up tweet!” begins Jake Webb. “The pale grey background, the font for the starting 11, the player gazing manfully off... it’s like an ad in a men’s glossy from the seventies. I bet he drinks Carling Black Label.” And this in zyder country too, for shame.

19 min: Scott has been extremely lively for Bristol City. He sashays in from the left, enters the box and has a dig. Ortega manages to gather without too much fuss, suggesting that hand of his is OK.

18 min: Foden whistles a cross in from the left. Alvarez swings and misses from ten yards. A huge chance.

16 min: Play stops awhile as Ortega gets a sore hand massaged. He’s good to continue, for now at least.

14 min: Another penalty shout for the hosts. Scott rolls a pass down the left for Bell, who dinks infield for Wells. He falls over under light pressure from Phillips, but there’s no need for the referee to make a decision, because Bell went too early and the flag pops up for offside.

12 min: No way is this going to end 0-1. A long Manchester City pass down the left nearly releases Foden into the box. O’Leary comes to the edge of his area to claim. Great anticipation. Had he not done so, Bristol City were in a world of pain.

11 min: Bristol City come again. Sykes runs at high speed down the inside-left channel and into the Manchester City box. Lewis comes across and eases him off the ball and to the ground. The hosts scream for a penalty. Andre Marriner isn’t interested in giving one, though you’ve seen those given. Lewis nudged his man from behind. Gently, but he did do that.

Mark Sykes of Bristol City is challenged by Rico Lewis of Manchester City. Photograph: Robbie Stephenson/JMP/REX/Shutterstock

10 min: Manchester City break upfield from that corner. Alvarez should be sent clear down the left, but De Bruyne is uncharacteristically inaccurate. Fair’s fair, the man’s been ill.

9 min: Bristol City try to respond immediately. Scott is clipped out on the left and it’s a chance for them to load the box. They play the free kick short, and Scott dribbles his way into the box down the inside-left channel. It’s a cute run, and though he’s crowded out, the ball twangs out of play for a corner on the left.

GOAL! Bristol City 0-1 Manchester City (Foden 7)

Well this didn’t take long. Ake, quarterbacking from deep, sends a long diagonal towards Mahrez on the right. Mahrez one-twos with De Bruyne, bursts into space, fires low and hard across the face of the hosts’ goal, and Foden slams home from an angle. What a start!

Phil Foden of Manchester City scores the opening goal. Photograph: Graham Hunt/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock

Foden celebrates. Photograph: Hannah McKay/Reuters

5 min: Manchester City calm things down with a period of sterile domination. That it’s come to this already.

3 min: Nothing comes of the corner. What a start to the game, though, huh? Somewhere in the multiverse, it’s already 1-1.

2 min: Bristol City reply by launching the ball down the left. Akanji slips and Bell scampers towards the box. He opens his body and looks for the top-right corner. His shot is deflected out for a corner kick. He should probably have rolled across for Wells, but he was within his rights to take the shot on himself too.

1 min 01 sec: Mahrez diddles his way down the right before rolling the ball infield. Phillips takes a touch before aiming towards the top-right corner. O’Leary in the Bristol City goal is beaten, but the ball slams off the crossbar and away.

A minute of warm applause in memory of John Motson – who made his name with a west-country commentary, that famous Hereford-Newcastle cup replay of 1972 – and then Manchester City get the ball rolling. A rare old noise here tonight!

The teams are out! Bristol City in their all-new post-Hummel red shirts with white pinstripe, while Manchester City wear third-choice neon yellow. A fine atmosphere at Ashton Gate, despite the PA previously blasting out the Wurzels’ rendition of Mancunian dirge Don’t Look Back In Anger. “I’m quietly confident as a five-decade Robins supporter that Haaland and De Bruyne will get found out tonight in the white heat of the Ashton Gate cauldron,” writes Kim Thonger. “It’ll be 2-1 to BCFC, with the winner in the 94th minute, while the Mancunians are preoccupied with booking limos to their Gulfstreams at Lulsgate is my prediction.” We’ll be off in a couple of minutes.

Pep Guardiola’s turn. “We will try to beat them … a team 12 games unbeaten … it’s the FA Cup away, it is difficult … all the players want to play, but everyone has to be involved … Kalvin Phillips should try to be himself, he tries to understand what we want to do, he comes from another reality … hopefully he can be himself and do a good performance … we were not ourselves [in getting knocked out of the League Cup by Southampton] so we will try to be ourselves, simple as that.”

Nigel Pearson speaks to HTV West. “It’s an interesting tie for us … we’ve worked really hard to get our form back in the league … more consistent … we’ve had a good couple of months in that regard … the cup run has been an integral part of that shift in form … to play against one of the best sides in the world is a reward for the players … our collective endeavour and work-rate shines through … we’ve got some good players … we’ll probably have some opportunities, but against better sides you have to convert them when they come, because they probably won’t come with the frequency that they would do in the Championship … we’ll have to be at our best … we recognise the quality we play against, but I want our players to play with a freedom to be themselves and express themselves.”

According to Harlech ITV, who are transmitting this game in the UK, Manchester City’s bench is worth £340m. That may go some way to explaining why Joe Pearson has emailed in to predict: “This will be a rout. There is no such thing as the magic of the cup. Why watch this and hope that the minnows will prevail over the Great White? I don’t need that kind of soul-destroying content. So I’ll probably watch Fulham vs Leeds.”

Jeff Sax adds: “Why is Brighton-Stoke not being covered?”

Twenty minutes before kick-off, and the excitement is palpable.

Bristol City, on a 12-game unbeaten run, are in If It Ain’t Broke mode. They make just one change to the starting XI named for the 1-0 win over Hull City on Saturday. Nahki Wells replaces cup-tied midfielder Anis Mehmeti, who has already turned out for Wycombe Wanderers in this season’s competition.

Manchester City make five changes in the wake of the 4-1 rout of Bournemouth on Saturday evening. Kevin de Bruyne, Kalvin Phillips, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and cup keeper Stefan Ortega come in for Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Ederson, all of whom drop to the bench. Haaland will be no doubt itching to get on and add to his tally of 33 goals in 33 appearances (!) so far this season.

The teams

Bristol City: O’Leary, Tanner, Vyner, Kalas, Pring, James, Williams. Sykes, Scott, Bell, Wells.
Subs: Haikin, DaSilva, Wilson, King, Taylor-Clarke, Morrison, Weimann, Thomas, Francois.

Manchester City: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Akanji, Dias, Ake, Phillips, De Bruyne, Silva, Mahrez, Foden, Alvarez.
Subs: Ederson, Walker, Gundogan, Haaland, Grealish, Rodrigo, Gomez, Perrone, Palmer.

Preamble

Bristol City have reached the final of the FA Cup just once, back in 1909, when they lost to a Manchester United side starring Billy Meredith. Manchester City by contrast have won the famous old trophy six times, the last after a record-equalling 6-0 rout of Watford in the 2019 showpiece. This is David versus Goliath all right.

But then that’s what the FA Cup is all about. Bristol City are hoping to reach the quarter finals for the first time since 1974, and their dream of making it isn’t so left-field that it requires filing under ‘pipe’. They’re 12 unbeaten in all competitions, for a start. They also gave Pep Guardiola’s side a proper game in the 2018 League Cup semis: Manchester City needed a last-minute Sergio Aguero goal to win the first leg at the Etihad, while in the second, Bristol City very nearly completed a three-goal comeback to force extra time. And City and Pep also have FA Cup fifth-round scars: third-tier Wigan shock-knocked them out at this stage back in 2018.

You’d still back the treble-chasing Citizens to win tonight, even if they field a second-string starting XI with upcoming Premier League and Champions League tests in mind. But there’ll surely be one hell of an atmosphere at Ashton Gate tonight, and magic often occurs under the lights in the FA Cup. Kick off is at 8pm, and there will be extra time and penalties if needs be. It’s on!