Manchester City, little by little, is recovering its vital signs. After achieving only one victory in 13 games, they have now had three wins in a row. They won 0-2 against Leicester, beat West Ham (4-1) causing the dismissal of Julen Lopetegui… and scored a ‘seven’ against Salford City (8-0) to seal their place in the FA round of 32 Cup.
A triumph with ‘morbid’. Salford, which plays in the English Fourth Division, is owned by Manchester United’s ‘generation of ’92: Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Butt and the Neville brothers (Gary and Phil).
Pep Guardiola opted for four youth players to start (O’Reilly, Simpson-Pusey, McAtee and Mubama), but the game itself did not have much history. At 8′ the ‘sky blues’ already won: Matheus Nunes recovered in midfield, gave way to Grealish and Jérémy Doku scored with a cross shot that hit the post before going in.
Divin Mubama, formerly of West Ham, barely needed 20 minutes to make his debut as a scorer for City: Savinho scored for Matheus Nunes and Mubama, unmarked, finished at will into an empty goal.
Just before the break, in the 43rd minute, another youth player, Nico O’Reilly, scored the third. Doku won the baseline, served the back pass and O’Reilly scored with a cross shot. It was also his scoring baptism with the first ‘sky blue’ team.
As soon as the second half started, in the 49th minute, it was 4-0. Ossama Ashley beat Jack Grealish in the area and Grealish himself did not forgive from the penalty spot. It was his first goal for City… since December 16, 2023! In total, 392 days had passed.
In the 62nd minute, with the fifth of the afternoon, the James McAtee show, author of a hat-trick, began. It was born, again, from a pass behind Matheus Nunes’ back, Doku served the ‘pass of death’… and finished first, with his right foot, City’s ’87’.
Jérémy Doku scored the sixth, from a penalty, in the 69th minute. Good game from the Belgian winger, who scored two goals and gave two assists.
There were still two more McAtee goals left. The seventh, in the 71st minute, came from a shot by Foden that he intercepted in the small area to beat Matthew Young, with subtlety, one-on-one.
The final score of 8-0 came in the 81st minute. Grealish served a cross to the penalty spot and, again, McAtee shot first into the net. City are asking for another round… at the expense of Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Butt and the Neville brothers.
