Manchester City appeared at London Road to take on last-placed Championship side Peterborough. But the position of his rival in the second English did not seem to mitigate Guardiola’s unease, who knew that the visit could turn into an ambush. Anything can happen in the FA Cup, where the most modest rivals come face to face with the country’s stars, and always put them in trouble.
City ended up winning a match in which it took more than an hour to find their best level. Until then, the team that had had the best chance was Peterborough with a long shot from Fusch that forced Ederson to stretch. Guardiola’s team ruminated on the move, wrapped up the ball, but the moves projected by Gündogan and Fernandinho did not materialize.
The citizen attack was missing mordant. With Gabriel Jesus quite wilted, it was the same midfielders who started the attacks that ended them. Before the break, Gündogan came very close to opening the scoring with a header that whistled past the left crosshead of Brenda, the posh goalkeeper. But we would have to wait a quarter of an hour, with the local defense beginning to falter, to see Manchester City’s first goal.
Phil Foden endured a tarascada and opened the left axis, where he was running Mahrez, who closed in and carefully crossed the ball to make it 0-1. Noel Gallagher breathed in the visiting stands and Guardiola lowered his shoulders as a sign of relaxation. All that remained was to finish off the match and the tie, so Foden asked him again. The young forward received in the middle of the field and launched a pass of more than 50 meters until Grealish, who slept the ball and beat Brenda for the second and last time tonight.