Pep Guardiola described Phil Foden as “awesome” and “flabbergasting” after the forward scored twice against Bristol City to book Manchester City's place in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Foden's brace — one in each half — put the visitors in command against the Championship side before the fit-again Kevin de Bruyne’s superb late strike sealed a 3-0 victory at Ashton Gate.
Foden has not always been a regular starter in recent weeks, but Guardiola said he has never doubted the England international's quality and praised his work ethic.
“I said last week that we don’t have any doubts about Phil,” said Guardiola.
“The impact of Phil since he has arrived has been flabbergasting. He has been awesome, getting better and better.
“He has struggled a little bit with the ankle, but he doesn’t complain. He wants to train, he wants to play, play with problems.
“But it’s not about the goal he scored in the last game [at Bournemouth], or the two goals he scored today. It’s about how aggressive he is and how he does things.
“He has done it again, his work ethic, the way he trained. Every single action is 100 per cent and at the end it will pay off.”
The Premier League champions were made to work hard for their victory even after Foden dispatched Riyad Mahrez’s seventh-minute cross before a capacity 25,713 crowd.
Bristol City, who had gone 12 games unbeaten, went close through Alex Scott and Sam Bell and might have had a penalty when Mark Sykes appeared to be bundled over by Rico Lewis.
But referee Andre Marriner was unmoved and VAR was not in operation for the incident to be reviewed.
On the first-half penalty incident, when Bristol City trailed 1-0, Robins boss Nigel Pearson said: “I joked with the fourth official and the assistant referee that they, Premier League players, are a protected species.
“But I’m being facetious. It was an event in the game that didn’t go our way and I’m disappointed with the scoreline because I thought the game was tighter than that.
“The most important thing for us we were true to ourselves and tried to play our own way.
“We held our own for long periods of the game, but the quality shone through at the end.”
Leicester City 1-2 Blackburn Rovers
Boss Brendan Rodgers took the blame after Leicester City crashed out of the FA Cup.
Tyrhys Dolan and Sammie Szmodics capitalised on awful defending to earn Blackburn a 2-1 win as they reached a first FA Cup quarter-final for eight years.
Kelechi Iheanacho grabbed a second-half consolation but the error-prone Foxes got what they deserved against the Championship side.
Rodgers, who guided Leicester to a first FA Cup triumph in 2021, made six changes and insisted he should be the one in the firing line.
He said: “If there’s anyone to blame it’s me. I made the changes and sadly it didn’t work.
“We brought four players into the starting line up who won the FA Cup a couple of seasons ago so the team should be strong enough and good enough.
“The FA Cup was a chance to get to a quarter-final, we were playing against a Championship team at home but they were better than us and we have to worry about that.
“They were the better team. We presented a couple of goals, giving the ball away cheaply. Then you are chasing it and 2-0 is an easy scoreline to go freely. We showed spirit and we showed drive then but you have to show that when it’s 0-0.
“It’s just consistency, it’s mentality, ambition and drive to succeed. That’s been too up and down for us. It doesn’t help when you continually present chances. We just didn’t perform well, it’s as simple as that.”
Stoke City 0-1 Brighton
Brighton & Hove Albion boss Roberto De Zerbi described Evan Ferguson as “unique” after the teenage forward’s latest goal secured his side a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
The Seagulls’ 1-0 win at Stoke saw Ferguson finish from close range on the half-hour mark at the end of a fine move.
It was a fifth goal of the season for the 18-year-old Republic of Ireland international and fourth in his last nine appearances.
And De Zerbi said of Ferguson: “He is unique for us in terms of quality, in terms of characteristic. He knows very well the way to score.
“I think he can and he has to improve, in the quality of play, in ball possession, to keep the ball better.
“But he is 18, he is [born in] 2004, and he will improve for sure, because I know the guy, I know his passion, his attitude, and I have no doubt.”
Fulham 2-0 Leeds United
Marco Silva insisted it is “for the fans to decide” which goal was better after two moments of individual brilliance proved the difference in Fulham’s 2-0 win over Leeds United which saw them reach the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Manor Solomon continued his excellent run of form since recovering from a knee injury, finding the net for a fourth time in as many matches with a clever curled effort from the left wing.
But it was Joao Palhinha’s stunning strike which broke the deadlock. He won the ball in midfield, drove forward and then unleashed a superb shot from outside the box.
“It’s not easy to decide [which is better],” Silva said after the game. “Two different moments but two great finishes.
“The first one was a very good recovery from Joao, the way he won the ball and a great finish.
“The other one was different. The way Manor linked with our striker and a great finish from a spot that [he] is very strong [from]. It’s for our fans to decide what’s the best, but they were two great moments.”
