Playing football is best for Oleksandr Zinchenko – Man City boss Pep Guardiola

Posted Wednesday, March 02, 2022 by PA

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said playing football was best for Oleksandr Zinchenko after the Ukraine international captained the visitors to victory in their FA Cup fifth-round clash at Peterborough.

The full-back was given the honour of leading out the Premier League champions as a show of support against Russia’s invasion of his homeland.

Zinchenko was shown crying at the support shown to Ukraine ahead of Saturday’s Premier League win at Everton, where he was an unused substitute.

💙 pic.twitter.com/N1xYPB8wGg
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 1, 2022

He played the full 90 minutes on Tuesday night as second-half efforts from Riyad Mahrez – his 19th of the campaign – and Jack Grealish’s first-ever FA Cup goal secured a 2-0 victory and a place in the quarter-finals.

Guardiola may have made six changes but his side boasted 11 full internationals and he praised Fernandinho for his decision to hand the armband to Zinchenko.

“Our captain decided to give the armband to him, to show how important the situation is,” he told ITV Sport ahead of the game.

“We are all at the club behind this gesture and behind my captain, who represents his country.”

After Zinchenko’s name had been cheered in all four corners of the Weston Homes Stadium, he led City out as he and Posh captain Frankie Kent carried a Ukrainian flag.

Asked after the game about Zinchenko, Guardiola replied: “Yes of course it is not an easy period for Alex.

“Playing football is the best way for him. We are through to the next round and it was a good night knowing the difficulty of the FA Cup away.

“They started much better than us in the second half but the rest, we controlled difficult conditions on the pitch, we adapted well and at the end the quality of the players made the difference.

Grealish scored his first-ever FA Cup goal following a fine pass from Phil Foden which the former Aston Villa skipper likened to the kind of assist provided by Lionel Messi.

But it was Mahrez who was singled out for special praise by Guardiola after his 19th goal of the season broke the deadlock.

“He’s playing the best of his career,” added the Spaniard.

“We know the quality Riyad has and he loves to play football. It’s not a profession to him, it’s a joy. He would play every single day.

“We know the quality he has. I am proud the most because he loves to play football. For him football is not a profession, it’s a joy.”

For Peterborough, this spirited display came against the backdrop of a relegation fight – which sees them bottom of the Championship and conceding on average two goals every game.

For manager Grant McCann, who returned to the club for a second stint in charge just last week, the performance here has to be used as the yardstick moving forward.

“I’m really proud,” he said.

“We knew we had to be good defensively and had good structure. (Ricky-Jade) Jones was sensational up front and we had a massive chance to go 1-0 up.

“When you’re playing against a top-class team, you know they will score the goals.

“I said to them afterwards, ‘that’s the benchmark’. This has shown the energy and aggressiveness we can play with. It’s up to me to get that out of them on a more regular basis.”