The first Uzbek boy to save Guardiola

In the 1/16 finals of the FA Cup, Manchester City hosted Leyton Orient.

Josep Guardiola fielded more second-team players in the starting lineup, with our compatriot Abdukadir left on the bench. In the 16th minute of the match, the new signing of the "City" Nico Gonzalez made a blunder and the hosts took aim at the "City" goal from the center of the field. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced back into the field, hitting the goalkeeper Ortega's feet and into the goal - 1:0. Nico, who was bought for 60 million euros, was substituted in the 22nd minute due to injury. A very unsuccessful debut.

Guardiola changed both central defenders at the beginning of the second half. Stones and Khusanov were brought on instead of Dias and Reis. After Abdukadir came on the field, he saved his team from a certain goal in one episode. The ball passed from the right wing would have almost gone to the home team's representative, who was running towards an empty goal if it were not for the Uzbek defender.

Then in the 56th minute, Rico Lewis' powerful shot hit Abdukadir's shoulder and went into the opponent's goal - 1:1. The Uzbek guy came to the rescue of Pep and his team at a very necessary moment. Until recently, one could only dream of such a thing. Now it is a reality.

Later in the 79th minute, after Grealish's brilliant pass, Kevin de Bruyne scored the winning goal for City. Thus, Manchester City advanced to the 1/8 finals of the FA Cup.

After the first 45 minutes, Guardiola became serious by sending his main players onto the field one by one, feeling that otherwise he might have trouble. After Khusanov scored, he blocked the ball heading towards the City goal in another episode, and also managed to demonstrate his speed twice. The Flashscore portal gave Khusanov, De Bruyne and Oraili the same 7.9 points. They were the highest scorers in the match.

"Manchester City" will play their next match against "Real Madrid" at the "Etihad Stadium" on the night of February 11. As many understand, "City"'s two main central defenders are Ruben Diaz and John Stones. However, given today's very reliable performance, and at least Diaz has just recovered from his injury and returned to the lineup, I somehow think that Abdukadir will play against "Real". It doesn't matter whether he is in the main squad or in the 2nd half like today. The important thing is that Khusanov came on the field and took the ball away from mega stars like Vinicius, Mbappe, Rodrygo. At that time, the whole world felt the power of the Uzbek defender. By the way, Khusanov also made history by becoming the first Uzbek player to score a goal for an EPL team. Go ahead, Khusanov!

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