Guardiola once again trusted Julián Álvarez and the Argentine did not fail him: Manchester City thrashed Bristol and advanced in the FA Cup

With a clear 3-0 victory against

(from the Championship, the second division),

advanced to the quarterfinals of the

, with Julián Álvarez among the starters for the light blue team, this time dressed of yellow.

Phil Foden

with a double (7 and 74) and the Belgian

(81) were the authors of the victory for

's team , who could not settle it until the final stretch of the game.

Phil Foden celebrates his second goal, after a great pass from Julian Alvarez.

Photo: REUTERS/Paul Childs.

Little by little, Foden seems to return to the level exhibited in previous seasons.

"His career was always on the rise. This season it cost him a bit at the beginning, but now he is back for the decisive stretch of the course," Guardiola said of the talented midfielder.

"His influence has been decisive. Football rewards you when you work hard as he has done," added the Catalan, who stressed that his team is "

" (Premier, FA Cup and Champions League).

Against a fit team, which came on a run of twelve games without defeat including all competitions, Guardiola's men quickly took control of the match and warned young Rico Lewis (2) with a shot off the crossbar, a one of the few novelties in a starting eleven of the Catalan coach with many regular starters (Dias, Silva, De Bruyne, Foden, Julián and Mahrez).

City wanted to clear up any possibility of surprise soon and after 7 minutes they opened the scoring through international midfielder Phil Foden, who finished off a cross to the far post from the Algerian Riyad Mahrez (7) after great collective action from the entire forward 'Citizen'.

The German goalkeeper Stefan Ortega reliably saved a shot by Alex Scott in the only dangerous play for the local team against a City that, for its part, had at least four chances to have left the tie sentenced at half-time.

Nor could Julián score the second on the first dangerous play after the break (51), shortly after Ortega left his place to the usual Ederson after not having recovered from a blow suffered at the start of the match.

As the match progressed, the locals grew and had the chance to equalize with a header from Sam Bell (71) that went wide.

Three minutes later, City scored with Foden's second goal, a cross shot

(74), and De Bruyne closed the score with a right foot from 25 meters adjusted to the base of the post (81). .

The bad news for City was that the Portuguese Bernardo Silva saw a yellow card already with the game sentenced (minute 87) for facing an opponent and will be suspended for the next round of a tournament that the 'Citizens' have not won since the season 2018-2019, the second with Guardiola on the bench.

Praise from Pep and minutes for Perrone

In the preview of the game, Guardiola praised the Argentine Máximo Perrone, one of the reinforcements of the last market, because his head is "faster" than his legs.

"He is a footballer who is faster with his head than with his legs," commented the DT in a note with the official channel of the English club.

Perrone entered in the last minutes of last weekend's win against Bournemouth (4-1) and completed 18 of the 20 passes he gave, an important number for a rookie.

This Tuesday he also entered against Bristol, when there were a few minutes left before the end of the game.

"He came on the recommendation of Joan Patsy, our consultant in South America. He had already suggested the hiring of Gabriel Jesús and Julián Álvarez," he highlighted about the eye of the Catalan ex-journalist who moves through this continent.

Joan Patsy is currently Director of Football for the City Group in Latin America and in the past he met Guardiola from working in Barcelona.

"I had some videos and information about him but, honestly, I didn't know him and neither did his new teammates. I saw him in the first two or three training sessions and I said 'wow, how well he moves'. His individual quality is there", he highlighted. Pep'.

Perrone, a member of the Argentine Under-20 team, is an alternative in the midfield, where Rodri and Kalvin Phillips are, although Guardiola also sees him for later in the positions of Kevin De Bruyne.

"I think he will grow being with us from the rhythm, from the physical. Sometimes we look for players to play in the position where the spaces are smaller. It's good, really very good", he closed.

Máximo Perrone, recently arrived at Manchester City and highly regarded by Guardiola.

Photo: REUTERS/Ian Walton.

More FA Cup results

In the other matches on Tuesday, Blackburn Rovers (of the second category) gave the big surprise by eliminating Leicester City in their stadium, thanks to the 2-1 victory achieved with goals from Tyrhys Dolan (33) and Samuel Szmodics (52), which made Kelechi Ihenacho's goal useless for the locals (67).

Brighton delivered against Stoke City (1-0), while in the only duel between teams in the Premier League, Fulham did not give Leeds a chance (2-0).

The other four FA Cup quarterfinal matches remain for Wednesday, in which the other duel between Premier League teams that will face Manchester United and West Ham at Old Trafford stands out.

Source: AFP

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