1 year ago
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Listen to Pep Guardiola enough and the Manchester City manager tends to mutter the same tune, reminding us that, for him, it is all about being there.
There in the Premier League title race, there in contention for a place in the Champions League quarter-finals and, now, in the last eight of the FA Cup. Here, in the West Country, Guardiola’s side had to do more than rely on muscle memory to earn victory but Phil Foden, a nerveless finisher, capped slick moves in either half before a magnificent strike by Kevin De Bruyne sealed passage into the next round.
The feverish atmosphere at kick-off as home supporters swirled their scarves overhead provided a snapshot of the kind of flavour the Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson was getting at when acknowledging how this club would take off if they realised their Premier League dream. For now, this type of test remains a rarity – and how a sold-out crowd was determined to relish the occasion, with a little help from the Wurzels. “We want to be playing this level of opposition every week,” said the Bristol City chairman, Jon Lansdown, son of longstanding owner, Steve.
Guardiola revealed his opposition scout advised him to expect an awkward evening and the manager finished his homework on the Championship side in the hours before the game, poring over clips on the flight south to Bristol. Guardiola alluded to the 12-match unbeaten run that has propelled Bristol City since Christmas and told how Pearson commands respect given his work at Leicester and Watford, and so the scene was set.
Guardiola made five changes from the comfortable win at Bournemouth, with De Bruyne, given a rest last weekend, returning to the starting lineup after illness, while Kalvin Phillips replaced Rodri at the base of midfield. Stefan Ortega began in goal but Ederson swapped in at half-time. Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland were among the substitutes.
Phillips rattled the crossbar with 63 seconds on the clock with a shot from outside the box and, although the hosts then settled, Manchester City took the lead on seven minutes. It was the kind of goal they have scored a hundred times over. Mahrez, whom Pearson signed from Le Havre for Leicester for £450,000 in 2014, played a one-two with De Bruyne and then pinged a low ball across the six-yard box. Foden arrived at the back post to side-foot.
But Manchester City did not steamroller their second-tier opponents. Alex Scott, the 19-year-old Bristol City playmaker signed from Guernsey at 16 who has been tipped to play for the England senior team, artfully slipped in Mark Sykes inside the box but, despite a bump from the Manchester City teenager Rico Lewis, the referee, Andre Marriner, dismissed appeals for a penalty. Pearson swivelled towards the fourth official, James Linington, in astonishment.
Soon after Scott tore down the left flank after being picked out by Matty James but his shot lacked conviction after cutting inside Manuel Akanji. The hearty applause that greeted the Bristol City players at half-time spoke volumes of their spirited performance, summed up by Cam Pring, one of five players in the starting XI to progress through the Bristol City academy, as he brought De Bruyne to a momentary standstill with a swift slide tackle.
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Foden was bubbly down the left and Lewis, who joined Phillips in midfield after an early tactical rethink by Guardiola, was bright when roaming forward. Foden sent a cross zipping across the face of the Bristol City goal that went unanswered and made another purposeful foray a few minutes later.
He drove diagonally across the field from left to right before feeding Mahrez, who tried to cut the ball back for Julián Álvarez. De Bruyne then jigged past Joe Williams before attempting to find Álvarez but the ball was again snaffled by Bristol City.
The longer the hosts stayed in the game, the more they grew in belief. The crowd sensed it too, geeing their players in full voice. Andi Weimann latched on to a Sykes cross but failed to make clean contact with his volley. Scott clipped the ball over the top for Weimann, always a game chase. His cross caused panic and a backpedalling Akanji made an unconvincing clearance. Foden made a crude tackle on Sykes that underlined the visitors’ lack of control.
Suddenly, though, the English champions turned on the style. Foden added the all-important second goal on 74 minutes with the help of a Vyner deflection before De Bruyne scored a peach from distance with nine minutes to play.
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