Gerónimo Rulli saved Brighton’s last two penalties as Man City won a 4-3 shootout after a 2-2 draw at the Etihad, sending Enzo Maresca’s young side into the last eight of the Carabao Cup.
Manchester City came from behind twice on Wednesday night. Mateo Kovačić cancelled out Malick Yalcouyé’s opener, and Vitor Reis answered Georginio Rutter’s early second-half strike with his first goal for the club. Then the shootout turned on the man between the posts.
Let’s be honest about it, though: this was a night when City survived rather than controlled. Brighton were the better side for long spells, and the young players who were promised minutes found out exactly how good the Premier League’s third-placed team are.
Man City 2-2 Brighton: how the shootout was won
Phil Foden, Enzo Fernández and Jérémy Doku scored City’s first three penalties, and Pascal Groß, Matt O’Riley and Maxim De Cuyper matched them for Brighton. At 3-3, Jason Steele saved from Kovačić and the momentum swung the visitors’ way.
It lasted seconds. Rulli kept out Yasin Ayari, Rayan Cherki rolled in City’s fifth, and the Argentine then saved from Lewis Dunk, who had only come off the bench in the 85th minute, to finish it 4-3.
| Round | Man City | Brighton |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foden, scored | Groß, scored |
| 2 | Fernández, scored | O’Riley, scored |
| 3 | Doku, scored | De Cuyper, scored |
| 4 | Kovačić, saved by Steele | Ayari, saved by Rulli |
| 5 | Cherki, scored | Dunk, saved by Rulli |
It was City’s first shootout in more than two years, since the 7-6 win over Manchester United in the Community Shield, and it was played in front of a record Etihad crowd for a domestic cup game of 55,345, according to the club’s official match report.
Gerónimo Rulli: the hero on his second Man City appearance
Rulli only played because Maresca rested Gianluigi Donnarumma, and this was just his second outing for the club. He made four saves in normal time, the best of them a fingertip to a long-range effort that clipped the woodwork on its way over, and he got the big moments right when it mattered most.
Two saves from the last two Brighton kicks is the sort of night that earns a back-up keeper real trust, and with Donnarumma under scrutiny for his recent errors, Rulli has given Maresca something to think about.
Man City vs Brighton goals: Kovačić’s class and Reis’s first
Yalcouyé turned in Rutter’s low cross on the half-hour, staying just onside against Ayyoub Bouaddi. City were level 10 minutes later when Floyd Samba’s hold-up play let Foden cut the ball back for Kovačić, whose 22-yard shot squeezed in off the post.
Kovačić was six years older than any of his outfield team-mates on a night when four Academy players started, and he played like it. FotMob rated him 7.9, level with Foden.
Brighton went back in front within two minutes of the restart, Rutter finishing Jaouen Hadjam’s low cross before City had settled into their new shape. The second equaliser came in the 72nd minute: Foden drove through the middle to win a free-kick, Cherki whipped it in low and Vitor Reis flicked it home for his first City goal.
Vitor Reis: the best City player on the pitch?
Reis scored, but his all-round game was just as impressive. He completed 58 of his 63 passes and made 16 defensive interventions, and FotMob gave him a 7.7. For a 20-year-old playing alongside the captain, Marc Guéhi, against the league’s highest scorers, that is a big step forward.
Rayan Cherki: still the man who makes City tick
Cherki was one of only two players, with Guéhi, to keep his place from the weekend defeat at Villa Park, and he was City’s best player. He led the early charge, earning a dangerous free-kick and teeing up a low Foden cross that deserved a touch, then assisted Reis and scored the winning penalty. FotMob gave him an 8.2, the highest rating in a City shirt.
What Maresca’s Man City vs Brighton gamble told us
Enzo Maresca made nine changes, as our Man City lineup vs Brighton breakdown showed, and the numbers suggest Brighton deserved more. They had 17 shots to City’s 13, six on target to City’s three, and an expected goals figure of 2.03 against 0.76. City had 57 per cent of the ball but only one big chance.
Maresca changed things at half-time. Ryan McAidoo came on for Samba, Rayan Aït-Nouri replaced Bouaddi at left-back, Foden dropped into midfield and Nico O’Reilly went up front. Brighton scored before the new shape had settled, so it is hard to call it a success, but it did get Aït-Nouri 45 minutes after we wrote that Maresca had changed his mind about the left-back.
Doku’s arrival on the hour gave City more drive, and the game opened up late on. Mats Wieffer hit the woodwork at the far post for Brighton, and Fernández was millimetres away from turning in Foden’s cross in the 94th minute.
Floyd Samba and the young players
Samba’s hold-up play made the equaliser, but he managed only 45 minutes and a 6.1 rating before being replaced. McAidoo (6.3) and Abdukodir Khusanov (6.2), who came on for Rico Lewis, also found it tough. That is no disgrace against a side of this quality, but it shows the gap these players still have to close.
Man City vs Brighton again on Saturday
Man City and Brighton meet again at the Etihad in the Premier League on Saturday, 31 October, at 3pm, with first hosting third. City are top on goal difference from Arsenal, both on 21 points, with Brighton five points back on 16 and with 23 goals, the most in the league.
Haaland, Donnarumma and the senior players who sat this one out are expected to return. Brighton will have taken plenty from tonight, though, and they will arrive believing they can hurt City again.
Verdict: Rulli’s saves buy Maresca time, not answers
A win is a win, and a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals with a team this young is a decent night’s work. The draw for the last eight is being made after Liverpool vs Chelsea.
But Brighton had the better of the game, and without Rulli we would be talking about a home exit. Cherki, Reis and Kovačić came out of it with real credit. The rest of the youngsters learned a hard lesson, and Maresca will want his first-choice side to put on a far more convincing show on Saturday.
