Manchester City 3-0 Birmingham: Bernardo Silva hits brace and Phil Foden scores as City go through
Those whose jobs it is to promote Manchester City have long been marketing Pep Guardiola’s reign simply as the implementation of ‘beautiful football’ and that slogan must be with days like these in mind.
Well, 15 minutes of it anyway. That is how long this tie remained competitive on an afternoon the standard of opposition felt immaterial. Birmingham City or Barcelona, when City play like this, there is nothing anybody can do.
Take Riyad Mahrez’s perfectly weighted pass with his outstep for the second goal, ending the contest. Defying logic, really, generating major sidespin with his cue to sink a tricky red, using Kevin De Bruyne as the cushion and an onrushing Bernardo Silva timing his run to pot the subsequent black.
Bernardo Silva celebrates scoring his second goal as Manchester City prevailed past Birmingham in the FA Cup
Silva steered the ball into the back of the net in the 15th minute as he helped Manchester City progress to the fourth round
Silva’s first goal was a fantastic effort as he demonstrated excellent technique prior to putting Manchester City in the lead
The trigonometry involved was breath-taking and the triangles possessed particularly sharp edges. These are the sort of goals City are beginning to engineer with more regularity, an ominous sign for their Premier League title rivals.
Silva had already scored by that point, seven minutes prior. Another stunning goal, a half-volley somehow connected with from behind his standing foot, arrowing into the top right-hand corner.
It was brought about by Mahrez’s menacing run at the back post that forced George Friend into rushing a clearance. Both the Portuguese’s finishes felt like perfect tributes to Colin Bell, whose recent passing was marked movingly by City before kick-off.
By half-time, once the sprightly Phil Foden had sweetly struck a third from 20 yards – a crisp drive skidding across the goalkeeper – Birmingham were exclusively playing in their own half.
Aitor Karanka knew very early that there would be no repeat of his heroics here in 2015, when Middlesbrough shocked the then Premier League champions.
Silva congratulates Phil Foden after the youngster scored his side’s third goal of the game when he struck in the 33rd minute
Kevin De Bruyne caused all manner of problems for Birmingham in the first half as Manchester City took control of the game
‘It was good for Kyle (Walker) and Gabriel (Jesus), both of them with minutes,’ Guardiola said. ‘Riyad got more minutes. Mendy hadn’t played for a long time. The objective is done.’
City have never shown mercy at home against lower-league opposition under the current manager, pummelling a few along the way, but settled for what they had long before the end, introducing a few younger faces, including bulldozing striker Liam Delap. Birmingham made brief forays into the home third but rarely threatened Zack Steffen from distance.
‘I showed them images of De Bruyne and the main thing is to be aggressive and strong,’ Karanka said. ‘If you come here and stand off, allow them to play, then the only thing that can happened is what did. Maybe they could’ve scored four or five. We had to make this game uncomfortable.’
Birmingham manager Aitor Karanka watched on as his side suffered a defeat against Manchester City and were knocked out
Foden attempts to push forward for City while being placed under pressure from Birmingham’s Ivan Sunjic in the first half
Jesus had squandered three decent chances on his first game back after testing positive for coronavirus on Christmas Eve.
He might be available yet, in keeping with City’s season, Sergio Aguero was not, self-isolating at home after someone close to him contracted the virus. That is the majority of Guardiola’s squad who have now endured a brush with Covid at some point.
‘Sergio was in contact with one person who was positive,’ Guardiola said. ‘It is a pity. It was a perfect day to get minutes but unfortunately he has to be a few days out.’
Manchester City star Bernardo Silva is closed down by Jake Clarke-Salter of Birmingham during the FA Cup third round tie
Birmingham’sLukas Jutkiewicz tries to win possession as Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen looks to claim the ball
Manchester City gave a runout to talented youngster Felix Nmecha for the second half of the game at the Etihad Stadium
