Following today’s clash between Manchester City and Bristol City, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Manchester City hosted Bristol City at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday January 9 for the EFL Cup Semi Final first leg, and the hosts took a two one victory.
Against the run of play and many people’s expectations the visitors opened the scoring in the 44th minute as Bobby Reid converted a penalty. Kevin De Bruyne had the hosts back on level terms ten minutes into the second half, but despite dominating the affair, City had to rely on a Sergio Aguero goal in the 92nd minute of stoppage time to take the win and give themselves the goal advantage.
Pep Guardiola will be pleased to see their unbeaten run continue, but equally Lee Johnson will take plenty of positives from his side’s determination.
Teams:
Man City:
Bravo, Danilo, Stones, Mangala, Zinchenko (Walker 79), De Bruyne, Y Toure (Aguero 70), Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Sane.
Substitutes:
Delph, Adarabioyo, Fernandinho, Ederson, Diaz.
Bristol City:
Fielding, Wright, Flint, Baker, Magnusson (Walsh 72), Brownhill, Pack, Smith, Bryan, Paterson, Reid.
Substitutes:
Taylor, Steele, Engvall, Eliasson, Kelly, Vyner.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Anthony Taylor blew the final whistle, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola explained.
‘My players were fantastic because in football you can win, you can lose, but we try until the end. We win many games in the last minutes because we don’t give up. A semi-final is always complicated. I said congratulations to Lee Johnson on full-time, they are a fantastic team for many reasons. They can play, they are fast, they know exactly what to do. It will be tough in Bristol. Every team creates problems. Wolves, Huddersfield last season, tonight too.’
He added.
‘It’s a semi-final, I don’t care what the competition is it’s a semi final so it’s not easy to reach and we knew they would be difficult opponents. We created a lot of chances and that’s why we win in the end, but today we knew we are not going to finish our job – that will have to happen away in Bristol when we travel there. They were really good, so we tried so hard, all the players tried and we’re really happy.’
Bristol City manager Lee Johnson in his comparative interview explained.
‘Very proud of my team. Disappointed with their goal late on but the boys were magnificent. We came here and tried to play our game and caused a few problems. You concede possession now and again because of the quality of the opposition. It is only half time and we are well in this tie. I said to them ‘you’ve been fantastic. We rode our luck but we broke and got men in the box. The pressing was amazing for the first goal. They can’t be disappointed as we are still in the tie. They have shown the world we are good footballers.’
He added.
‘They showed confidence and weren’t frightened to be on the ball. Pep Guardiola said to me that we played better than most of the Premier League teams that come to Man City. We will take an awful lot from it and learn a lot. It is not over. It will be an interesting game at Ashton Gate. The away goal was very important. We tried to score and certainly didn’t park the bus. The lads have to go home and think we can kick on form this performance.’
