Pep Guardiola has demanding more protection for players after Leroy Sane was injured during Manchester City’s 2-0 FA Cup victory over Cardiff City.
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De Bruyne stepped up and showed his world-class qualities as he slotted a low strike into the bottom right-hand corner as Cardiff’s wall jumped, anticipating a higher curling effort. A nervy moment for Bravo at the other end nearly saw the Bluebirds back in the game, before Raheem Sterling doubled the lead with a headed goal. “Is that not a red card wow!”
MF Leroy Sane, 8 – With acres of space to work in, the winger caused the home side all kinds of problems until his afternoon was cut short at half time after a disgusting challenge from Bennett, who should have been red carded.
Chelsea recovered from their Carabao Cup semi-final defeat by easing past Newcastle with a 3-0 win as Michy Batshuayi struck a brace.
Manchester City rode out some discomfort before the excellent Silva and Danilo nearly added gloss to the scoreline, meaning Guardiola will have at least a few more weeks to be irritated by quadruple talk.
But it would be interesting to see how the 24-year-old will fit in the United squad, which is already well endowed in terms of attacking talent as well as youngsters seeking to make a concrete mark.
Into the second half and Manchester City again started strongly, now boosted with the introduction of a striker in Aguero, who replaced Leroy Sane at the break. Just letting you know, we have a really important tournament in the summer. Mass confusion, even without VAR!
City boss Pep Guardiola rushed on to the pitch immediately after the full-time whistle to lambaste referee Lee Mason, not for the freaky decision to disallow a Bernardo Silva goal, but for a failure to protect his players.
After Tottenham Hotspur’s much-changed side drew against Newport County and Liverpool crashed out of the FA Cup after a disappointing performance, all eyes were on Guardiola’s City.
The £17m goalkeeper had been quietly rebuilding his reputation following last season’s blunders but this was as bad as any of them, fumbling the ball and grabbing it half way across the line. When these games deteriorate to the level some do with City dominating the opposition, you have to keep your head.
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Just seven minutes had gone when Ilkay Gundogan was trying to work himself some space on the edge of the box and was caught by a clumsy tackle from Joe Ralls. Hoilett is allowed to cut inside onto his stronger right foot, he curls the ball towards goal, Bravo looks beaten, but it drifts just wide of the post. The Belgian delivers the ideal through-pass to Sterling who is left one-on-one with the goalkeeper but Etheridge is off his line quickly to make the block.
