Rayan Cherki, Manchester City’s French Connection, proved his worth with a scintillating performance against Swansea, to help City qualify for the EFL Carabao Cup Quarter Finals.
The Swansea. com Stadium in Plasmarl, Wales, was brimming with excitement as a good 20k Swansea fans gathered to push their team to create an upset, and an expectant crowd had lots to cheer as Swansea drew first blood.
Franco scored for the hosts to stun Manchester City early with a classic, curling right footer from the edge of the box, to beat a slightly out-of-position Trafford, City’s young goalkeeper. The shot was not a screamer, but was placed brilliantly and Swansea had the lead in the 12th minute.
A goal down, Manchester City woke up and then never slept. It was as if City had simply taken over the game as they held possession and threatened to score any minute. The equaliser eventually came from a Doku strike, which deflected from a defender and wrong-footed the goalkeeper. City were on level terms in the 39th minute.
Cherki was found everywhere, beautifully controlling the midfield and feeding Marmoush and Bobb relentlessly ( Erling Haaland was rested). His enterprising play had Swansea under pressure, and eventually Marmoush scored.
The Egyptian, coming off a knee injury, played the entire match, a testimony to his fitness. He took the ball and turned brilliantly in the box to create space and struck a ripper from an acute angle to send the ball into the net. The Swansea goalkeeper could have done better, but the ball came just too quickly, and before he could react, it was past him. It was indeed a magnificent effort from Marmoush.
Cherki deservedly put the victory stamp on the match with an excellent finish of his own in stoppage time to seal an encouraging 3-1 victory for City ( they were coming off a loss against Aston Villa last weekend).
Manchester City will take on Brentford in the quarter-finals on the 17th of December at the Etihad Stadium.
What a scintillating performance from City indeed.
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