The Beauty of Football: Bristol City take down Manchester United


Last night, Ashton Gate played to host one of the great cup shocks as Bristol City scored a last minute winner to beat Jose Mourinho's Manchester United.

Football has a knack of throwing up these kind of results to the point that every team probably has a story of the time they beat a higher league team or were the results of an underdog upset.

But Bristol City came out yesterday and performed outside of their divisional limits. A team in the Championship has no right to go up against the reigning League Cup champions. They played with no fear of who they were up against and a style of football that would be envied by many teams in the Premier League. 

Manchester United looked far from the team we have witnessed for the majority of the 2017-18 season. Whether it was due to a high-pressing intensity from Bristol City or United just not being at the races, it all helped to result in the shock of the season so far.

City just never let United settle last night. They looked at their counterparts, a team filled with Zlatan, £89-million Paul Pogba and England young hero Rashford to name but a few, and gave them a nightmare evening. It was apparent that United's megastars were beginning to become frustrated by City's style of play. 

The Red Devils had a foul count that continued to grow in the second half as Bristol City got in their faces and to show them that they weren't going to be physically out done. This was a perfect demonstration of how a team who's talent is far less than their opponents walks away with a victory.

When you usually witness a shock result like this, the goals are more often than not scrappy goal mouth scrambles or something similar. Bristol City scored two fantastic goals - both from a team perspective and a individually. 

Putting the Robins into the semi-final must put this up with one of the great cup shocks in English football. Wrexham beating Arsenal. Sutton beating Coventry. Bradford beating Chelsea.

It's a shame that Mourinho has to taint the victory with the typical bitter loser character that accompanies so many of his loses. He managed to use the word "lucky" 4 times before even thinking about congratulating the victorious side - to which he said it only once. Classy.

But now it is a City on City game. Bristol City will now take on the blue side of Manchester in a two leg fixture for the chance of glory at Wembley. If they do manage it, they will be the first non-Premier League side to reach the League Cup Final since 2013 - when Bradford City lost to Swansea City.

And for a Liverpool fan from Bristol - this victory tasted beautiful.

Click here to see the Bristol City winner to Titanic music.




What are your favourite upsets? Share and comment.

You can read my other blogs at ScriptEye and I Can't Write Words here.

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