Pep Guardiola would never let Nico O'Reilly leave. While the players of Manchester City applaud their traveling supporters, Guardiola gave his 20-year-old competition winner a little push and pushed him for the fans sang his name.
O'Reilly is being used this season to have the praises after he had scored a brace against Plymouth in the final round and another strike in the 8-0 rout versus Salford, but here, on the south coast against Bournemouth, it was his immediate impact that Guardiola dragged a seventh consecutive semi-final.
He was barely three minutes on the field, came to the back left, when he shot forward to the canal to collect Kevin De Bruyne's pass and waved a teasing, curly cross to the rear pole before Erling Handand to tap in the equalizer before he set up Omar Marmoush for the winner with a nice piece of skills.
It was appropriate in many ways that it should be this young face of the new generation of the city that turned the game upside down and the side of Guardiola in the old beast.
Guardiola knows that if he has to rebuild his city dynasty after this season, she goes back to the top of English football, it will be the young blood that it must inspire.
After the game, he spoke about how his legendary city players, those who have won six Premier League titles in seven years and now have reached seven FA Cup semi-finals in a row, have difficulty maintaining the 'heart and desire' to go and again if they finally did it in the Vitality Stadium.
Now too long, his heroes seemed mortal. They no longer hold the same aura, the feeling that they are inviolable and exist on another, unearthly level. “Teams used to be more careful,” Guardiola said recently of his opponents. “Now teams are so brave.”
The will of De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva have become parent and slower. They still have the quality to choose the perfect pass when it matters, but they can swarm that high-energy, Hoogdrende Up-and-Comers such as Bournemouth. They did it here in November in a victory that Guardiola recognized, the game was that their slide began in mortality.
Before the introduction of O'Reilly it seemed to happen again.
After just five minutes, Silva brought down a broken pass, but before he could get the ball out of his feet, Antoine Semenyo took him off him. Silva protested with the referee as if it was an insult that opponents were allowed to show such a contempt for inheritance and prestige.
Matheus Nunes did the same later when he, also crushed by Semenyo, took so long to get up again that De Bruyne waved across the field to beg him to continue with it.
The only thing that nunes gets along was giving the ball to Bournemouth outside the city fine and in the space of a few steps, Evanilson had it in the net and the cherries were at the front.
It was the 21st time that Man City had admitted the first goal in a match this season. The only other Premier League clubs that do this more are relegation feed Leicester City and Southampton, as well as the famous useless Manchester United.
All the big names of Guardiola were there and they were staggering again. Haaland could have had a six-minute hat trick, but led from close by, put a penalty straight on kepa and then broke a one-on-one over the bar. On the other hand, the mostly distribution of Ederson took the distribution of the top class over the guise of a rebellious garden sprayer.
Ruben Dias played a loose pass for Gundogan and threw up his arms in frustration.
Then O'Reilly came up and changed it all. There was the heart to burst forward in the room to receive the De Bruyne ball for the equalizer. There was the desire to jump on Semenyo's fault to win the ball and set up the winner.
Although he may be part of the new wave of city talents that come through, there is still something typical Guardiola about how O'Reilly is used, he is actually not a left back. Of course he is not.
“We can't forget that he is a no. 10,” Guardiola said after the game. “But he has pace, he is so intelligent, has quality with the ball in the last third part, he has vision.”
The Technology O'Reilly showed for the winner of Marmoush, to arrange the ball, to turn and play in the pass with the outside of his boot in such a sleek space showed those qualities.
He played as central and also holds midfielder, and on 6FT 2 is also a threat to set pieces.
Born in Failsworth, just north of Manchester, he grew up like a city fan in a household divided between blue and red. He was the best player in the city years of the city and under 11 years old when they won back-to-back Premier League National titles.
In 2023 he scored a sensational scorpion-kick for young people under the age of 18 and a week later he jumped in a 40-Yard Lob against United. He can set them and he can also score them.
Chelsea tried to sign him in January, but received short shrift and you can see why.
Guardiola joked that O'Reilly played his way on the team magazine for Wembley. You imagine that it will not take too long before it is there to stay.
If Pep has to build something special in the city again, he can no longer rely on the old guard. One day he will need young hearts like O'Reilly to lead the way.
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