First up, we look at the Manchester Evening News’ ratings for last night’s performance in the Carabao Cup clash against Bristol City.
Pep’s side sealed a 3-2 victory over the homeside, 5-3 on aggregate, which meant Manchester City booked their place in the final at Wembley against either Arsenal or Chelsea.
Three players scored particularly highly: Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho and Kevin De Bruyne.
Stuart Brennan rated Sergio eight out of ten and wrote: “Classic Kun finish put City in control before late fight back. He also hit the bar in the first half and gave the defence kittens whenever he got near the ball.”
On Fernandinho, the MEN journalist said: “If Bristol were fired up, the boy from Brazil was equally in the mood, and he patrolled the space in front of the back four with class as well as determination,” and rated the midfielder nine.
Finally KDB achieved the same rating as Fernandinho for his performance.
“His physical strength surprised the big Bristol defenders, and he was everywhere,” Brennan added. “To cap it off, he led the counter and provided a gorgeous pass for Aguero’s killer second goal.”
On the subject of Kevin De Bruyne, the Mirror has praised the Belgian for his tireless brilliance in City’s recent Cup clash.
Andy Dunn writes: “Kevin de Bruyne knew the game was in its dying seconds, knew the scoreboard, as it stood, took Manchester City to Wembley but he wanted to make sure.
“That is why he steamed most of the length of the field, in the 96th and final minute, to put the flourish on Leroy Sane’s breakaway.
“Of all the superlatives you can attach to De Bruyne, add indefatigable.
“His brilliance never tires, his majesty never rests, his football brain never takes a breather and his body copes with the lot.
“That has been one of the subtle differences between the De Bruyne of Pep Guardiola’s first season and the De Bruyne of his second season.
“He seems more robust, stronger, faster, hence his ability to gobble up the ground and give his side a deserved win on the night, even though this Bristol City team steadfastly refused to accept the inevitable.
“But the inevitable was that, in the final reckoning, in the last push to Wembley, class was always going to tell.”
Finally, on to the latest transfer gossip and rumours – as Spanish outlet Marca has continued to speculate around Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte.
Juanma Velasco writes: “Athletic Club are already considering life without Aymeric Laporte after he reached the basis of an agreement with Premier League leaders Manchester City who are ready to pay his 65 million euro release clause.
“The French defender is expected to sign a five-year contract at the Etihad Stadium and will soon join Pep Guardiola for training.
“Laporte will be wearing the blue of City by the end of the transfer window, as he came close to doing in 2016 when his release clause was just 50 million euros.
“The news comes as a surprise, arriving just days after he publicly praised team-mate Kepa for committing his future to the club by signing a new contract.
“Guardiola is keen to add another central defender and wanted Laporte right from his arrival in 2016, though the Frenchman turned down Txiki Begiristain and his negotiating team at the last moment.
“Laporte’s current deal runs until 2020 and from July his release clause will increase to 70 million euros.
“Laporte discussed the potential move with Josu Urrutia, the club’s president, as he visited the training ground at Lezama on Tuesday, though it was still in the very early stages at that time with neither the club nor the player aware of any such agreement in the morning.
“City are confident that a deal will be completed at the start of next week.
“Athletic are also prepared to reinvest the funds received by spending in the remaining week of the transfer window to replace one of their key men.”
That’s all for today, but we will be back tomorrow with more City news from the backpages!
