Makeshift left-back Nico O’Reilly channelled his inner Erling Haaland to lead a Manchester City comeback after they’d been given a major scare by this season’s FA Cup fairytale, Plymouth Argyle.
Pep Guardiola must have feared going the same way as Liverpool – knocked out by Argyle in the fourth round – when pony-tailed Ukranian Maksym Talovierov headed the Championship side ahead to send eight thousand travelling fans wild.
As City’s big-hitters floundered, it was 19-year-old O’Reilly – a midfielder pressed into duty at the back – who came to the rescue with two headers before skipper Kevin De Bruyne sealed the deal late on.
The teenager’s first goal, from De Bruyne’s free-kick, put City level at the interval. With 14 minutes left and chances being missed, O’Reilly kept his composure to emphatically nod home Phil Foden’s corner.
Ironically, City could have lost O’Reilly in January but Guardiola is glad he and the club decided to keep the player rather than take Chelsea’s money.
‘Sometimes you take a good decision otherwise he would not have scored twice for us today,’ smiled the City boss.
