Jack Grealish has praised the resolve of Manchester City teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko after an incredibly tough week and labelled him as 'underrated'.
Zinchenko returned to the starting XI and helped City book their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Peterborough United on Tuesday night.
It's been an unimaginably hard week for Zinchenko who, alongside fellow Ukrainian Vitaliy Mykolenko, was moved to tears prior to the Blues' win against Everton on Saturday as both clubs made a touching show of support for his country amid Russia's invasion.
READ MORE: Man City player ratings as Phil Foden and Fernandinho crush Peterborough in FA Cup
Fernandinho handed Zinchenko the captain's armband to face the Posh and he entered the pitch holding a Ukraine flag with opposing skipper Frankie Kent. The left-back played well in the win and there were yet more emotional scenes when he moved to thank the travelling supporters at full-time, several of whom waved flags of their own.
Grealish has explained what the week has been like and how the squad have helped their teammate. He told ITV: "It's actually been quite emotional, if I'm honest.
"He's such a big character in the squad, he's got unbelievable quality. If you ask me i think he's so underrated as a player.
"We've had to be there for him, it's been an extremely difficult time for him and for everyone especially associated with Ukraine. It's been difficult but fair play to him, he came out tonight, captained the side and I think he done brilliant."
City had to wait until an hour had passed before they finally broke the deadlock with a moment of class from Riyad Mahrez. Grealish then doubled the lead after latching onto a magnificent Phil Foden pass and slotting home.
"Yeah of course," Grealish said when asked if he felt City always had the quality to win despite the wait for a goal. "I think we had most of the chances, in the first half we had a lot of the ball - we've come up against that a lot recently.
"Teams who sit in against us so it's been difficult, it's something that we've got used to. It happened at the weekend, we finally broke Everton down and we did the same tonight."
Sign up to our City newsletter so you never miss an update from the Etihad Stadium this season.
