Manchester City staged an impressive comeback against Swansea to secure a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals. Goals from Jeremie Doku, Omar Marmoush, and Rayan Cherki sealed the victory for the Citizyens, marking their seventh win in ten matches across all competitions this season.
Nico Gonzalez was the standout performer for Manchester City. Filling in a defensive role reminiscent of Rodri, Gonzalez completed an astonishing 123 passes, including 11 into the final third, and maintained a 100% success rate in his dribbles. Defensively, he made a significant impact with three tackles, six clearances, one interception, and was dribbled past only once.
After the match, Pep Guardiola praised Gonzalez’s performance:
“Defensively he helped us a lot. We have an incredible amount of players offensively that don’t have the mentality to defend. Not because they don’t want to run, to defend means when I’m close to the opponent and take the ball, we are not top in that and Nico helps us in that. But especially the ball moves much better in the right positions, much clever where the space is free. He’s so young, a lovely guy, so I’m very pleased because these types of football players are incredibly coachable; they deserve the best.”
Manchester City will now face Brentford in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals on 16th December.