Manchester City might not be the ‘invincibles’ anymore, but their ‘domestic treble’ dream is still very much on. They are well ahead in the Premier League tally and have progressed through to the final of the League Cup competition. Their FA Cup 4th Round tie against Championship side Cardiff City has been a comfortable draw and the Citizens were favourites to clinch a win against Neil Warnock’s men at Cardiff City Stadium.
The game, as expected, turned out to be pretty one-sided and Manchester City clinched a comfortable 2-0 win against the Bluebirds.
Below are the Manchester City players rated and slated in their routine victory against Cardiff City.
Claudio Bravo: 6.5
Fumbled early in the game which could have proved to be a howler if the ball had crossed the line. Made a couple of decent stops thereafter.
Kyle Walker: 7
Mostly spent his time in attack as he kept on making overlap runs down the right-hand flank. Combined well with Bernardo Silva upfront throughout the game.
Vincent Kompany: 7
Kompany returned to the squad following his injury absence and had a pretty comfortable outing due to Cardiff’s inability to threaten enough in the attack.
Nicolas Otamendi: 7.5
Otamendi has been the most consistent central defensive option for the Citizens and the Argentine had another solid outing with great composure and a tough display.
Danilo: 7.5
The Brazilian took time to settle in and mostly confined his game in defensive duties during early minutes. He, however, made some decent forward runs as the game progressed and tested Neil Etheridge with a spectacular strike late in the game.
Fernandinho: 7
Was not at his best, lost a number of duels, was feeble aerially but kept on switching the game in the flanks with his strong passing traits.
Kevin De Bruyne: 8.5
Scored spectacularly from a free-kick as he put the ball into the net with a grounder when Cardiff wall jumped up to defend it. Kept on changing flanks and fed the ball to the front trio in search of more goals.
Ilkay Gundogan: 7.5
Was impressive with his runs, one-twos, and movements in and around the box. Created plenty of opportunities up front.
Bernardo Silva: 8
Silva was sensational throughout and was unlucky too as his stunning goal was disallowed due to Leroy Sane’s presence in an offside position who was obstructing the custodian’s view. But registered an assist minutes later as he found Sterling inside the box from a spectacular cross. Was replaced by Brahim Diaz in closing minutes.
Raheem Sterling: 8.5
Was unmarked inside the box and his header into the ground bounced past Etheridge from a sublime Bernardo Silva cross. Came close on a few other occasions as well.
Leroy Sane: 6.5
His runs were often causing trouble for Cardiff defence but the German youngster was certainly not at his best and got replaced by Sergio Aguero at half-time.
Substitutes
Sergio Aguero: 6
The Argentine hitman was expected to bag a few more goals but could not test the custodian as his only strike went off target.
Brahim Diaz: NA
Played too little to warrant a rating.
