JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist
We can write an interesting article again because we were there and I could feel that atmosphere at Bristol City at Ashton Gate stadium , and also at Long Ashton . Loud and a great family atmosphere at that match was warming . So again we are with you at such a great game of this class and we were trusted to be accredited for such an important game which is the ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIP ” Emirates FA Cup ” .
Two goals from Phil Foden and one from Kevin De Bruyne took Manchester City to play Bristol City and into the last eight of the FA Cup.
Guardiola rested several players on the substitutes’ bench were Ilkay Guendogan, Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland among others. Not surprising, given that the Citizens were clear favourites for the match at Ashton Gate. This is even despite the fact that the hosts from Bristol are recent winners of several matches and were in great form .
Ashton Gate was very noisy at kick-off as the sold-out stadium made its presence known as both teams emerged from the tunnel.
Red and white scarves were available for everyone one was left on each seat and these scarves swayed over the heads of the supporters who prepared to cheer on the Robins in their biggest game in recent history.
The opening quarter of an hour of play was matched by off-field energy when Kalvin Phillips hit the crossbar in the second minute, before Sam Bell took advantage of Manuel Akanji’s slip and ran onto Joe Williams’ ball.
The match started at a very good pace, the hosts pressed the defence high with pressing and looked to run into the penalty area and create some good action to score goals early on they did well .
The match looked a good one for Bristol City , however the Premier League champions were quick to adapt to the conditions and started to play their passes and attacked well from the start with Max O`Leeary’s goal.
Manchester City on the other hand were not going to start softly in this match on this day either and attacked as much as they could and in the seventh minute Foden finished off a quick attack with an incisive move and scored the first goal for Manchester City .
Although Bristol City tried hard they were unable to create a clear-cut chance and just when it looked like they might succeed and score the equalising goal at 1-1 unfortunately Manchester City’s Foden added a second goal in the 74th minute and in the 81st minute De Bruyne’s beautiful finish confirmed their lead.
Already in the first minute Kalvin Phillips hit the crossbar when attacking Manchester City goal Max O1Leary the goalkeeper was very lucky
9 min: Bristol City try to respond immediately. Scott is cut in from the left and it is a chance for them to load the field. A free kick is played in briefly and Scott dribbles towards the penalty area down the inside left channel. It’s a nice run, and although crowded, the ball goes out of play for a corner on the left.
7` GOAL!!! Bristol City 0-1 Manchester City (Foden 7)
Well it didn’t last long. Ake, the playmaker from deep in midfield, sends a long diagonal towards Mahrez from the right. Mahrez intertwined with De Bruyne, went into free space, shot low and hard towards the hosts’ goal and Foden slotted the ball into the goal from an angle.
21` Bristol City are behaving superbly despite the goal loss. They are giving their all a good team fight .
23` Ake plays a nice pass around the corner and down the left, intended for Silva. Not quite. Manchester City are attacking again. Mahrez comes in from the right to centre from the left wing and hits a half-volley into the top left corner. O’Leary is beaten and Kalas knocks the ball off the end line, which means a corner kick.
26 `Lewis drives down the inside right channel and passes to Foden. A promising attack ends ignominiously as Foden slips on his trousers. The home team’s supporters thoroughly enjoyed it.
28` A few head plays in midfield. The pace of the game has slowed down a little and many passes are now at a premium.
29` James passes down the left in the hope of releasing Wells. Lewis reads the threat and gets back to Ortega.
31` Lewis moves down the left central channel, this time from deep in his own half and into Bristol City territory. He passes to De Bruyne on the left. De Bruyne takes too long to figure out what to do next and the momentum of the attack is shaken.
37` Scott dribbles accurately into the Manchester City box from the left, forcing Phillips to concede a corner. James sends a decent pass towards the near post, where a couple of brand new red shirts lurk after Hummel…. But Phillips completes the tidy job by heading the ball forward.
39`Foden runs in from the left flank and hits Scott’s arm. He falls as he felt it. There was no ill intent on the part of the Bristol City star, and thankfully Foden is able to get up quickly enough.
58` Manchester City are passing well as they are in triangle action with their first touch. Bristol City can’t get any contact. but the hosts are keeping their shape, if For now there’s no chance of the defence breaking through.
61`Sykes crosses in from the right. Weimann tries a sweeping shot at goal from 12 yards, but his shot hits Dias just as he leaves the boot. Slightly better play from Bristol City, who have not been as sharp since play resumed.
71` Bristol City Scott chases down the right for a lost cause. Dias tries to kick the ball out of play. Scott gets forward and deflects the ball off the sideline. Weimann, who runs in from the back, crosses to the near post where Bell hits it very wide. Good action by the hosts was close to goal
74 ` Bristol City had defended very well up to this point in defence and had not allowed themselves to score more goals but up to this point because their resistance had been broken. De Bruyne passes down the left wing to Ake, who passes to Alvarez in the middle. Alvarez slides to the right to Foden, who shoots into the bottom left corner of the goal and goalkeeper Max O `Leary is without a chance to defend this shot 0 : 2 for the Citizens
80 min: Grealish dances down the left and takes a shot from a narrow angle. O `Leary lets it pass over the crossbar,
81 ` De Brudne storms down the middle of the field and heads a low shot and curled the ball into the bottom right of the goal from 25 metres a very precise shot by Kevin De Bruyne from outside the penalty area that set the score at 3 : 0 for the visitors.
89 min: That’s the last thing Williams does tonight. He is replaced, along with James, by King and Taylor-Clarke. Meanwhile, De Bruyne makes room for Perrone. “Bristol City’s performance should strengthen them for the remainder of the Championship season”. – Andrew Benton suggests. “It would be nice if they could get a goal here though.”
90 mins +1: The first of two added minutes in which Ederson, on a walk, and Akanji almost get into a terrible scramble yards from the Manchester City box. But there was no consolation for the hosts.
Bristol City put in a good performance, obviously for their capabilities. That doesn’t change the fact that the visitors could have won higher had they: a) been more effective; b) made better choices in the penalty area. On the other hand, it is rather hard to imagine anyone in The Citizens’ team complaining after this encounter. They did their job, advanced to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and didn’t get overly tired.
Pep Guardiola “A good result … it was really difficult … Bristol showed us how good they can be … I’m impressed with some players I didn’t know … the second half was much better … after the second goal the game was over … amazing Bristol fans … we came here for the Carabao Cup semi-final and the environment was amazing and I remember that … good result … The FA Cup is so nice … wherever you play away is difficult … [Phil Foden] is dynamic … footballers have ups and downs but his career has been up, up, up, up … after the World Cup he struggled and was a bit down, but he came back … when you work like he did, it always pays off … [Kalvin Phillips] did 90 good minutes with some good actions and it was important for us that he is back … we are still alive in three competitions and we will see what happens in the future. ” interviewed by Pep Guardiola for the Guardian
“Three-zero is maybe difficult, but it shows you the quality they have … the thing that pleases me most is that we have been true to ourselves … we didn’t try to change our identity just to make it harder for them … we tried to be ourselves … things didn’t turn out the way we wanted them to when opportunities came … decisions … maybe [there could have been a penalty], but I’m not going to dwell on that … I’m pleased with the way our players stretched themselves and went head-to-head with the best team in the country … I’m disappointed we didn’t make it a bit tighter but congratulations to them, they’re a quality team … we need to use the 12-match unbeaten streak and our performance today as a catalyst to go further and maximise what we have … we have a really good, energetic, young and talented squad … Alex Scott is our player of the game and it’s nice to have players that other people can covet … if people want our best players they will cost a lot of money! ” interviewed by Nigel Pearson for ITV
Bristol City – Manchester City 0:3 (0:1)
0:1 Phil Foden 7′, 0:2 Phil Foden 74′ , 0:3 Kevin De Bruyne 81′
Bristol City: Max O’Leary – George Tanner (46′ Andreas Weimann), Zak Vyner, Tomas Kalas, Cameron Pring (79′ Jay Dasilva) – Mark Sykes, Matthew James, Joseph Williams, Alex Scott, Samuel Bell – Nahki Wells (82′ Marlee Francois).
Manchester City: Stefan Ortega (46′ Ederson) – Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake (83′ Sergio Gomez) – Kevin De Bruyne, Kalvin Phillips, Bernardo Silva – Riyad Mahrez (71′ Jack Grealish), Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden (83′ Cole Palmer).
Yellow cards: Williams (Bristol City) and Foden, Bernardo Silva (Manchester City).
The biggest surprise came from Blackburn Rovers players, who threw Leicester City overboard in the FA Cup. The 1995 English champions are now in the Championship and yet managed to win against the favourites 2:1. Another second-placed side, Stoke City, lost 0:1 at home to Brighton. The finest goals of the evening, however, came at Craven Cottage in London, where Fulham beat Leeds United 2:0, with goals scored by Joao Palhinha and Manor Solomon .
