The moment that flipped Manchester City’s FA Cup quarter-final at Bournemouth on its head initially went largely unnoticed. As players made a beeline for the tunnel and supporters headed into the concourses loaded with orders for beers, burgers and hotdogs, Pep Guardiola had issued an instruction that would ultimately define this match and earn City passage to a seventh successive semi-final.
As everyone else headed in, his longtime fitness coach, Lorenzo Buenaventura, rushed on to the pitch with a single mission: prime Nico O’Reilly for business. The 20‑year-old from Failsworth, a few miles north of Manchester, ditched the tracksuit top and was quickly put through his paces. O’Reilly would not depart quite so quietly.
His half-time arrival, in place of Abdukodir Khusanov, transformed City, preserving their last route to domestic silverware this season. At that point City trailed 1-0, Erling Haaland had missed a penalty and squandered two other chances and Guardiola’s defenders were generally being given the runaround. Ilkay Gündogan had made a couple of lazy fouls and Haaland’s chances were anomalies in a half Bournemouth dominated.
O’Reilly, a No 10 or central midfielder by trade, went straight to left-back, Josko Gvardiol shifted to centre-back and suddenly Rúben Dias, among those who had wobbled during an ominous first-half display, looked more assured. Midway through the first half Dias played a loose pass for Gündogan and spread his arms wide in disbelief, asking questions of the 34-year-old midfielder. City do not carry the same aura they once did but they were undoubtedly in command in the second half, aided by the rangy O’Reilly’s fizzy, seemingly bottomless energy.
O’Reilly, who scored twice against Plymouth in the previous round, was so effective that Guardiola joked he was instantly promoted to his starting lineup at Wembley. Here he set up Haaland to equalise four minutes into the second half and then played in Omar Marmoush with a deft pass for City’s second, the Egypt forward scoring with his first touches after replacing the injured Haaland. In doing so, O’Reilly became the first City substitute to assist two goals in a game since Gündogan against Leeds in December 2021.
City, who have twice won the Cup under Guardiola, in 2018-19 and 2022-23, are surely favourites from here despite their obvious fissures, though a revived Nottingham Forest, their opponents in the last four, beat them in the Premier League this month.
Within seconds of the restart, Guardiola was moonlighting as a ballboy, desperate to kickstart his team’s comeback after Kepa Arrizabalaga shanked a kick into the advertising hoardings. This, of course, was the venue where City’s 32-game unbeaten run came to an end in November and where, as Guardiola acknowledged, their season began to nosedive after they won only one of their following 11 matches. For the first 46 minutes it seemed Guardiola may have departed Dorset with their season as good as over before turning his calendar to April.
The City manager kicked the leather upholstery of his seat in the away dugout in wild celebration after Marmoush put City in command but only four minutes earlier his oscillating emotions were at the opposite end of the spectrum. Guardiola was booked for sarcastically applauding towards the fourth official, Andy Madley, after Bournemouth decided to play on while Haaland was down on the turf injured. Then O’Reilly snatched the ball off the toes of Antoine Semenyo and freed Marmoush, who took his goal superbly. Guardiola wound up his right fist and punched the air.
The close control of Jack Grealish and James McAtee helped City run down the clock after the stadium speakers confirmed seven added minutes. By now Bournemouth were set up akin to a 3-4-3 or a 2-5‑3. Guardiola’s head was still shaking in disdain moments later. Guardiola applauded overhead when Nico González ignored traffic to spread play to Grealish and soon afterwards McAtee almost established some breathing space, but his shot cannoned off Arrizabalaga’s torso.
Marmoush saw a header cleared off the line – his effort appeared to come off Illia Zabarnyi – and Gündogan rattled a post late on.
The first half had been tired and stale, City’s legendary players, as Guardiola called them, struggling to contain Bournemouth’s supercharged talent. “We could not reach the same level of intensity in the second half,” Andoni Iraola, the Bournemouth head coach, said.
O’Reilly provided a welcome breath of fresh air, basically everything City had been devoid of. “What we missed this season was heart, soul, desire,” Guardiola said afterwards, reflecting more generally, but O’Reilly offered it in spades.
It was telling of a nervy encounter that City’s supporters sang of Wembley only with the big screens showing 96:55 minutes. A few seconds later the final whistle blew; Guardiola felt a pang of relief, embraced players from both sides and then pushed O’Reilly towards the away fans as they serenaded the youngster after another star turn. Bernardo Silva inspected O’Reilly’s man‑of‑the-match award and then handed it back as they walked off the pitch last. For O’Reilly, next stop: Wembley?
