Pep Guardiola praised Jack Grealish's aggression in the final third as the Manchester City forward returned from injury against Peterborough.
Grealish, 26, missed a fortnight of football with a niggling shin problem, similar to the one that sidelined him for a significant chunk of last season at Aston Villa. He returned to the matchday squad against Everton on Saturday before making his first start since the last round of the FA Cup at home to Fulham.
It was to prove a successful outing for player and team, with Grealish latching onto a wonderful pass from Phil Foden and slotting home for the second goal of the night in a 2-0 win and his first goal since a header in the 7-0 win over Leeds in mid-December. Speaking after the match, Guardiola was delighted with the moments of quality that separated the two teams on Tuesday evening.
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The City boss was also pleased with the general performance from Grealish, a player who he has felt the need to defend on a number of occasions this season in light of a lack of goals and assists from the England international. Guardiola highlighted the forward's aggression in the final third as he enjoyed his team's progression into the quarter-finals.
"The pass from Phil was excellent, the control was quite similar, " he said. "The pass from Phil was similar to what he did to Joao [Cancelo] in [Club] Brugge and the control from Jack was excellent.
"It was good from Jack, who was aggressive today in the final third and back from injury. All the players were committed apart from the first 10 minutes of the second-half when we came in really bad, the rest was really good."
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