Listen to Pep Guardiola and the Manchester City manager will constantly mutter the same tune, reminding us that, for him, it is all about being there. There in the thick of 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 both halves before a magnificent strike by Kevin De Bruyne sealed passage into the next round.
The feverish atmosphere at kick-off as home supporters swirled the scarves placed on every seat provided a snapshot of the kind of flavour the Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson was getting at when acknowledging how this club – and the red half of this city – would take off if they realised their Premier League dream.
For now, these tests remain a rarity – Guardiola brought his side here in the Carabao Cup five years ago – 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.
For Bristol City, this was a defeat draped in positives. Guardiola name-checked their prodigiously talented teenage midfielder Alex Scott as “an unbelievable player” seconds into his post-match press conference and soon after the final whistle he gushed to Pearson about Bristol City’s courageous display.
Scott was one of five academy graduates to start and two more arrived from the bench. There was an early cheer when Matty James outmuscled Kalvin Phillips on halfway and more of the same when Cam Pring brought De Bruyne to a momentary standstill with a raking tackle. The sight of De Bruyne and Rico Lewis booting the ball clear amid second-half pressure told part of the story. “Twelve games unbeaten, I’m sorry we break that record,” Guardiola said with a smile afterwards.
It did not stop Pearson and Guardiola, who were in deep in discussion at full time, chewing the fat over a glass of wine. Guardiola’s opposition scout advised him to expect an awkward evening and the Spaniard finished his homework on the Championship side poring over some clips on the flight south to Bristol on Tuesday. Guardiola made five changes – De Bruyne returned after illness and Phillips replaced Rodri at the base of midfield – but was reluctant to rotate too much. “When you don’t play seriously these games, you will suffer,” Guardiola said.
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. Guardiola later joked in the Championship there are “one million games until the end of the season” but it was the kind of goal that Manchester City 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 in.
But Manchester City did not steamroller their second-tier opponents. Scott, the 19-year-old tipped by his manager to play for England’s senior team, artfully slipped in Mark Sykes inside the box but, despite a bump from the Manchester City teenager Lewis the referee, Andre Marriner, dismissed appeals for a penalty. Pearson swivelled towards the fourth official, James Linington, in astonishment. Until last week Bristol City had gone 469 days without a penalty but after two in two games, a third in three always seemed unlikely. “We can’t get too greedy,” Pearson smiled.
Foden was bubbly down the left and Lewis, who often 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 goal that went unanswered and made another purposeful foray a few minutes later. Foden 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 an alert 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 and then Scott clipped the ball over the top for Weimann, always a game chaser. Weimann’s cross forced a back-pedalling Manuel Akanji into a panicked clearance. Foden made a crude tackle on Sykes that underlined the visitors’ lack of control.
Suddenly, though, they turned on the style. Foden added the all-important second goal via a Zak Vyner deflection before De Bruyne registered a peach from distance. For Bristol City, attention turns to their trip to Cardiff on Saturday. Can Manchester City begin to think about the treble? “I’m [only] thinking to win at Newcastle [on Saturday],” Guardiola said.
