Man City survive Southampton scare as Gonzalez’s Rodri-esque belter keeps treble hopes alive | OneFootball

Manchester City’s domestic treble hopes flashed before their eyes as Southampton threatened to add to their Arsenal scalp, before Jeremy Doku and Nico Gonzalez inspired a comeback victory.

Guardiola rang the changes for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Southampton and, while you could justify doing so, it was a risk that very nearly did not pay off.

Back in November, Guardiola decided to give Man City’s fringe players a run-out against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League and he paid the price, despite it still being a starting XI worth £435million in transfer fees.

Guardiola did not tinker to that extent again until the Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle United and, after successfully navigating that tie en route to winning the trophy, we saw the Man City boss use the Southampton clash to hand minutes to those unable to get a kick in the Premier League.

We do get it. If the likes of Omar Marmoush, Phil Foden and Mateo Kovacic are to get a run-out before the end of the season, it was against Southampton – who were not to be taken lightly.

The Saints produced the scalp of the season with a 2-1 quarter-final win over City’s title rivals Arsenal, ending their treble quest two weeks after the Gunners lost the Carabao Cup final against Guardiola’s men.

They had another chance to derail one of the Premier League’s top two’s treble hopes at Wembley and came so, so close to doing so.

Tonda Eckert unsurprisingly set his team up to frustrate City with a deep, compact defensive structure and it worked a charm. City were reduced to speculative shots for the most part and, if they weren’t going wide, they were hitting a Saints player.

The entire second half was played in City’s attacking third until Southampton enjoyed a brief spell approaching the 80th minute, which is when they took their rare chance to test James Trafford’s goal.

Finn Azaz’s opener was spectacular but ended up being the kick up the backside that City desperately needed.

The cavalry had already been called on before Azaz made it 1-0 in the 79th minute, with Erling Haaland, Nico O’Reilly and Jeremy Doku all on the pitch, and it was Doku who took charge and quickly scored an equaliser.

At 1-0, it felt like Southampton would hold on, having defended so well at 0-0, and the instant response was clearly too big a blow to recover from, made even more devastating by Doku’s strike being deflected agonisingly out of Daniel Peretz’s reach.

That was the bit of luck City desperately needed and Southampton will rue it against such superior opposition, though the gulf in class showed when Gonzalez smashed one into the top corner from 30 yards out.

It is quite the luxury having a £50m back-up midfielder to call upon when rotating heavily, and the gap between Gonzalez and Rodri has probably never been closer.

Saturday’s winner was the closest thing to a Rodri moment we have seen from Gonzalez, which is ironic for a No.6, but something we would not be surprised to see from a player as clutch as the Ballon d’Or winner.

Starting with Doku’s equaliser and finishing with Gonzalez’s belter, it was the perfect response from a City side on the brink of a disastrous defeat.

Guardiola took a risk with his team selection and unsurprisingly called on his star-studded bench when his back-ups could not find the opening goal, but the bottom line is that City are FA Cup finalists and will be favourites against Chelsea or Leeds United, who face off on Sunday in the other semi-final.

Seeing off Southampton also means Guardiola is still on for a domestic treble.

A nervous Arsenal saw off a poor Newcastle United side to go back on top of the Premier League, but City are in the ascendancy there, while the Carabao Cup has already been secured after beating the Gunners 2-0 at Wembley last month.

There are murmurs of Guardiola leaving at the end of the season, as there have been every year for the past three seasons, and lifting all three domestic trophies would be the perfect way to sail off into the sunset.

It is on the cards, and you would be bold to bet against it.