Reaction as Man City lose to last-minute Bellingham strike for Real Madrid

Fifth-round

And then there were 16.

Here is the draw for the fifth round of the FA Cup. These games will be played across the weekend of 1 and 2 March, however we don’t yet know the picks for TV.

Preston North End v Burnley
Aston Villa v Cardiff City
Crystal Palace v Millwall
Manchester United v Fulham
Newcastle United v Brighton
Bournemouth v Wolves
Manchester City v Plymouth Argyle
Nottingham Forest v Ipswich

Is a penalty shootout just a lottery? Not according to Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo.

“It was a tough one. This is the FA Cup, we knew how hard it was going to be,” he told BBC Radio Nottingham.

“Credit to Exeter, but probably we didn’t do one of the best games. At the end we are happy, this is more important.

“Penalties is not a lottery. We have to prepare them and the boys were really focused on doing things properly.

“We take our penalty shots in training sessions and did really well .

Where does this persistent myth of Pep only inheriting great sides come from?! Barca finished 3rd and 18 points off the pace the season before he joined. City scraped 4th on goal difference. He built both of those title winning sides! (Barca being the best ever side). Just odd that it persists despite being provably wrong with 2 seconds of thought!

Exeter City 2-2 Nottingham Forest (Forest win 4-2 on penalties)

Nottingham Forest beat 10-man Exeter on penalties

“It was a heroic effort – it feels like we’ve been playing for about three days,” Exeter City manager Gary Caldwell told TodayPriceNG

The Grecians are 18th in League One and Caldwell thinks the game against Nottingham Forest can help spur his side on for the rest of the season.

“The players were outstanding. The mentality, the teamwork, the looking after each other and protecting each other in difficult moments was incredible. It’s something we have to take forward,” he said.

“We have to use this performance, we have to use this feeling and take this into the next 17 games.”

Exeter City 2-2 Nottingham Forest (Forest win 4-2 on penalties)

Nottingham Forest.There was also FA Cup football last night – it just never ends.

Nottingham Forest are into the fifth round of the competition but Nuno Espirito Santo’s much-changed side – 10 changes in total – needed extra time and penalties to beat 10-man Exeter City at St James Park in the fourth round.

In the shootout, Exeter’s Reece Cole had his effort saved, while Angus MacDonald smacked the bar for the hosts before Neco Williams scored the decisive penalty for Forest.

Josh Magennis opened the scoring for League One Exeter after five minutes, but Forest were soon level, then ahead, through Ramon Sosa and Taiwo Awoniyi.

Magennis got Exeter back in the tie with an equaliser from a set piece in the second half, although manager Gary Caldwell also watched his side go down to 10 men when debutant Ed Turns was given a straight red for an 87th-minute foul on substitute Morgan Gibbs-White.

In the end, Forest avoided a potential banana skin and they will face Ipswich Town at the City Ground at the start of next month.

Here’s my controversial Pep take….He is massively over-rated. Inherited the greatest side ever at Barca, took Bayern backwards and performed as expected at the richest club in the world. Of course, as a United fan, I’m sure I would be singing a different tune had Fergie convinced him otherwise

I’ve always wondered, who is it that makes these Tifos? They’re hardly something you can just stitch together in

The Champions League Final in Munich springs to mind. Yes, their City and their Stadium but it was Champions league

Keep your Pep Guardiola takes and favourite Tifo memories coming in.

Very shortly we’ll start building up to tonight’s Merseyside derby and Celtic’s match with Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Re 09:27 – When Pep arrived at City the spine of the team was Kompany, Fernandinho, Aguero, and David Silva. He’s won two titles and a treble since they left. Not only is it yet another moving of the goalposts as far as City are concerned (remember when we wouldn’t be a great team till we won in Europe), it’s demonstrably untrue to say Pep hasn’t had to rebuild the team

Man City 2-3 Real Madrid

Manuel Sanchez
Spanish football journalist on the Football Daily podcast

I think Real Madrid have taken a lot of pressure off themselves with the win. I think it will boost the confidence of the players a lot. They needed this.

It has always been difficult for the Madrid mindset to get this kind of victory against Pep Guardiola when he was at both Barcelona and Man City. I think the players needed this and the fans needed this because they wanted this kind of victory against Guardiola and having the second leg at home now is a big advantage for them.

I think the Madrid players have realised now how bad that City are at defending and how badly they handle their nerves at this moment. The level of confidence of Man City right now is so low and they need to smell that blood and come for it and I think they will go for it in the second leg a

Nothing worse than a soft apple. A great coach is someone who is a serial winner, a great manager is someone who can make the most out of a depleted squad and still contend. Klopp, Mourinho, Fergie, Wenger…and I’d say up and coming for that list is Nuno. It’s the ability to inspire an underdog team to victory. Pep is a master tactician, but he isn’t the best manager.

Man City 2-3 Real Madrid

For Jack Grealish to get the nod, I mean, I was surprised. He started just based on his performance as this season.

So, you know, gets the nod and then had a part in the Manchester City goal, didn’t he? Wonderful.

Ball into Gvardiol and down in Haaland, finished. And then a few minutes later, he comes off, which pretty much summed up his season, really.

He can’t find a rhythm. Let’s hope he has a possibility of making the second leg.

Summary

Champions League reaction as Bellingham’s winner for Real Madrid sinks Manchester City at Etihad

Final Merseyside derby at Goodison: Everton v Liverpool (19:30 GMT)

Celtic host Bayern Munich in Champions League (20:00)

Nottingham Forest scrape through to FA Cup fifth round beating Exeter on penalties

PSG, Juventus and Dortmund all win play-off first legs

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