Manchester City locked horns with Everton at Goodison Park earlier this evening as they looked to secure a victory and book a place in the FA Cup semifinals. Pep Guardiola’s men dominated the game in the first half but were held to a goalless scoreline at the half-time break.
Man City pushed on in search of the winner in the second 45 minutes but struggled to break the opposition down. Ilkay Gundogan finally managed to break the deadlock in the 84th minute when he nodded the ball in from close range. Kevin De Bruyne came off the bench to kill the game off just six minutes later as the Mancunian giants secured a hard-fought 2-0 win at Merseyside.
Let’s take a look at how each Man City player performed during the clash against the Toffees.
GK: Zack Steffen – 7/10
The Man City keeper made a couple of decent saves during the game and was also accurate with his passing.
RB: Kyle Walker – 7/10
The English full-back didn’t have to do too much defending, which opened him up to make some driving runs down the right flank.
CB: Ruben Dias – 7.5/10
The Portuguese talent was often quick to deal with the danger and hardly gave away the ball when distributing it out from the back.
CB: Aymeric Laporte – 7.5/10
The French defensive ace won a lot of aerial duels and cleared his lines when needed. He performed well enough to keep a clean sheet this evening.
LB: Oleksandr Zinchenko – 7/10
He got back quickly to clear the danger when called into action. Zinchenko also had a couple of shot attempts.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 8/10
The German midfield ace established his superiority at the centre of the park and popped up with another crucial goal for his team late in the game.
CM: Fernandinho – 8/10
The Brazilian veteran rolled back the years as he was a dominant force in midfield and made several powerful runs towards the opponent’s penalty box. He covered a lot of ground and offered enough protection for his teammates at the back.
CM: Bernardo Silva – 6/10
He had a couple of bright moments but lasted only 63 minutes before being substituted.
LW: Raheem Sterling – 7/10
The English speedster was a constant nuisance for the Toffees defenders but didn’t do enough to get himself a goal.
ST: Gabriel Jesus – 6.5/10
The Brazilian striker made a couple of promising runs with the ball and even got back to defend when needed.
RW: Phil Foden – 7/10
He had plenty of chances to find the back of the net but was a bit wasteful in the attacking third. Still, Foden deserves credit for causing a lot of problems for the Toffees defenders.
Substitutes:
RW: Riyad Mahrez – 7/10
Mahrez created a few inviting chances for others around him.
CM: Kevin De Bruyne – 7.5/10
The Belgian international came off the bench to score Man City’s second goal in the 90th minute.
CM: Rodri – N/A
He hardly had any time to make an impact but still managed to bag an assist.
