Pep Guardiola's men struck twice in the first half at the Cardiff City Stadium as they proved to be a class above ten-man Bluebirds who had Joe Bennett sent off late on
IF you cannot beat them, batter them.
This is no way for Cardiff City, no matter what their limitations, to approach an FA Cup tie against Manchester City.
Pep’s players will soon be in need of a preservation order.
This was an old-school, agricultural approach, a throwback to the dark ages, to a time when English football lapped up this sort of stuff.
There is a football god because Manchester City won, cruising past Neil Warnock’s Championship battlers with peaches from Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling.
Even so, Pep was entitled to be hopping and down inside that technical area.
The biggest threat was an injury to one of Manchester City’s key men.
Cardiff got a body in the end, with Leroy Sane failing to re-appear for the second half after Joe Bennett’s tastleless reducer.
Even Germany’s national twitter fed was outraged, posting the message “Hey Cardiff, just to let you know we have a really important tournament in the summer. Please don’t hurt our players. #insane”.
It really was insane out there at times.
Cardiff took it in turns to smash into City’s players, roughing them up with the darker, cynical approach.
It is 2018 and we thought the sport had moved on. Not in Cardiff.
This was nasty, violent and vicious.
Referee Lee Mason did not help, taking an age to start taking the names of Cardiff City’s players.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing should have been first in, chopping Fernandinho on the edge of Manchester City’s area in the first half.
That fella could have got booked several times over.
Joe Bennett made a name for himself - as an idiot - for chopping Sane down with a scandalous pre-meditated foul on the City forward, who later was shown a second yellow card in the 92nd minute.
Sane has just carried the ball 60-odd yards, from one penalty area to the other, before Bennett clattered into him. Nice guy.
INTERACTIVE STATS - CLICK on the categories to find out how the teams fared
The great shame is that Manchester City did not score from the free-kick.
Sane, unsurprisingly, did not last, taken off at half-time for his own safety and replaced by Sergio Aguero.
By then they were already 2-0 up, cruising into the pot for this evening’s fifth round draw. Pep’s side were different class.
De Bruyne scored the first, selling an entire wall a dummy after just eight minutes.
They jumped as one, expecting de Bruyne to fire one towards the top corner of Neil Etheridge’s net.
Instead he trundled one across the grass, sending a daisy-cutter under the studs of Cardiff’s players and into an unguarded net.
Quality.
Sterling grabbed a second after 38 minutes, losing Cardiff’s defence - not difficult - to steer a downward header beyond Etheridge from Berardo Silva’s left-footed cross.
Bruno Ecuele Manga, the defender detailed to mark Sterling, lost his man and that was it.
INTERACTIVE LINE-UPS - CLICK on a players number below to see their stats
There was no way back for Cardiff, not really.
Junior Hoillet had their only chance of the first half, a long range dig that was spilled by Claudio Bravo.
Somehow, he recovered to keep it out.
City had other chances, with Sane ludicrously adjudged offside when Bernardo Silva beat Etheridge all ends up from long-range.
Pep, so animated, threw off his snood and launched it towards the dug-out.
Cardiff’s fans were loving it, taking their mind off a lamentable performance by singing “you’re just a shit Neil Warnock” at him. Hmmm.
City were out for more, with Sterling denied by Sean Morrison’s excellent recovery challenge after skipping past Etheridge.
Warnock sent for fresh blood, replacing Kenneth Zohore after 67 minutes to bring on Anthony Pilkington.
By then the job was done.
Manga eventually went into the book, cautioned for nipping away at Aguero’s toes 13 minutes from time. It was another dirty foul.
Incredibly Mason only booked two, way off the pace in a game that City ran from start to finish.
Fernandinho finally lost his rag, booked for a foul on Cardiff’s midfielder Marko Grujic.
When he returns from his loan spell to Liverpool, he will carry the scars from Fernandinho’s challenge. It was revenge, of sorts.
Bennett was then given his marching orders with moments to go, after a late tackle on Brahim Diaz.
Still, City have made it through, surviving this awkward fourth round tie. Pep will be pleased to see the back of Cardiff.
The Impossible Job - winning all for competitions in the same season - remains a possibility.
This endless sequence of games, darting from Premier League to Carabao Cup to FA Cup, will take on an added dimension when the Champions League returns.
To stand a chance of scooping the lot, they will need a fully fit squad to choose from.
Fortunately for them, they do not have to run into Cardiff again.
