Manchester City beat AFC Bournemouth 2-1 in the FA Cup quarterfinal last Sunday, March 30, at the Vitality Stadium.
The Cityzens thus qualified for the last four, keeping their hopes for a silverware intact.
Evanilson scored in the first half to give Bournemouth the lead in the first half, but Erling Haaland restored parity in the second before Omar Marmoush scored the match-winner.
Manchester City will take on Nottingham Forest in the semifinal on April 26.
Manchester City Played With a New Formation
Manchester City were visibly wary of conceding goals from counter-attacks – as has often been the case in Rodri’s absence – and decided against playing with a high defensive line right from the start against Bournemouth.
Somewhat surprisingly, Kevin de Bruyne started on the left flank for the Cityzens, with Phil Foden on the right.
Matheus Nunes started as the right-back and Joško Gvardiol as the left-back. Bernardo Silva and İlkay Gündoğan were the two central midfielders, and Mateo Kovačić was the holding midfielder.
It was a 4-3-3 formation that Manchester City had never tried this season prior to Sunday’s match.
However, during the initial periods of the match, Guardiola’s men were given a taste of their own medicine as Bournemouth pressed intensely inside the opposition half.
City started playing long balls from deep to get out of Bournemouth’s press and also managed to earn a penalty, somewhat against the run of play.
Haaland, however, failed to score a goal from it, and Bournemouth scored soon after, with Justin Kluivert proving to be a handful for the Manchester City defence yet again.
Nunes made a number of overlapping runs through the right flank, but his defensive shortcomings were exposed, as they led to Bournemouth’s goal.
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Pep Guardiola’s Subs Make the Difference
The Cityzens were lacking a proper left-sided player, and Guardiola decided to bring in Nico O’Reilly as the left-back in the second half.
O’Reilly replaced Abdukodir Khusanov, as Gvardiol switched to the position of a centre-back.
O’Reilly’s run from a quick counterattack resulted in the equalizer for the visitors, as Haaland finished from the former’s pass.
The move was started by De Bruyne, who set O’Reilly free with a lot of space with a perfect pass.
The young Englishman then registered another assist minutes later, this time helping Omar Marmoush score the second goal for Manchester City. Marmoush had replaced an injured Haaland moments before scoring the goal.
Both of the substitutions made by Guardiola thus proved to be decisive for his team. With that performance, O’Reilly made a strong claim for getting a start for the Cityzens in their upcoming matches.
He should be an intrinsic part of Manchester City’s rebuild in the future.
However, the Cityzens should think of securing a top-four finish and winning the FA Cup as their priority at the moment.
Nottingham Forest will not be an easy opposition, but Guardiola should back his team to put it past Forest in the semifinal.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Pro Sports Images
Recording Date: 30.03.2025