Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, celebrates victory with Matheus Nunes after the Emirates FA Cup Quarter Final match between AFC Bournemouth and Manchester City
Pep Guardiola celebrates with his Manchester City players after the FA Cup win over Bournemouth
Manchester City fans feared the worst when one Nico wasn't named in the starting lineup. They had the other to thank for coming off the bench to send them to Wembley for a record seventh consecutive FA Cup semi-final.
City showed once again why they have struggled so badly in the five months since they arrived at Bournemouth on top of the Premier League, and leave with more issues. Abdukodir Khusanov was taken off at half-time with what was hopefully a precaution but Pep Guardiola will miss the next match after picking up a third yellow card of the season and Erling Haaland limped off with a knee problem that looked worrying.
Those can be for another day though after the away end are done serenading 20-year-old Nico O'Reilly. In a competition famed for its romance and magic, an academy star coming on with his team losing and transforming the game while playing out of the position ensured the shouts he got were thoroughly earned.
City have been used to being nobody's favourite in an era under Guardiola where they have dominated English football. Asked before the game how nice it would be for Bournemouth to reach their first ever FA Cup semi-final, City's manager responded that nobody had ever reached seven in a row before either.
One of the sadder parts of City's decline this season has been that loss of fear factor. Opposition fans are no longer so emotionally invested in them losing before it has happened so often since they suffered a first Premier League defeat here at Bournemouth back in early November.
They were, incredibly, still top of the league back then, but nearly five months on produced a first-half performance that reflected why they have slunk so badly. The worst bit of that was that it was so predictable.
All the Blues who feared the worst when the teams were named that a midfield containing four players aged 30 or over were overrun by a vibrant pressing team. It shocked nobody who has watched Matheus Nunes at full-back this season to see him make not one but two amateur errors in the same passage of play to allow Bournemouth to take the lead.
The only eyebrows raised can have been at the chances Erling Haaland missed to put City in front before then. After weathering an early storm, Nunes had teed up Haaland for a header from close range that flashed wide, then an inexplicable handball from Tyler Adams allowed the Norwegian the chance to score from the spot.
He hit it weaker than you might strike a mascot and Kepa Arrizabalaga got down to save it, whipping up a home crowd that felt like justice had been done. Even in the seven minutes between that and Evanilson giving them the lead, Haaland again could have made them pay but instead scooped a loose ball over the bar.
Seeing O'Reilly come on for Khusanov at half-time did little to inspire confidence, yet inside four minutes the away end were serenading the youngster after he charged forward and put it on a plate for one Haaland could not miss. Having been seemingly out of the tie, City were suddenly right back in it.
The momentum appeared to swing back from them when Haaland went down holding his knee and couldn't get back up. Guardiola was booked for protesting Bournemouth's decision not to put the ball out and it felt like another setback that City have been so bad at recovering from this season.
Instead, within seconds of Omar Marmoush coming on City had worked the ball forward and more opportunism from O'Reilly allowed the Egyptian to slide the ball through a weak effort from Kepa. As bad as the Blues were in the first half, allowing Bournemouth so little after the break was excellent and they overcame their issues to head off to Wembley again.
It won't save their season, but it showed there is life in this squad yet. Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva were more effective than they have been for a lot of the season and Kevin De Bruyne ran his socks off, while Marmoush and O'Reilly pointed to a future that has already started to take shape.
Guardiola embraced O'Reilly at full-time and pushed him towards the away fans for them to give him more praise. However disappointing the campaign and whatever problems still exist, Bournemouth saw more bright signs for City's future.
Thanks to O'Reilly, that now includes another trip to Wembley.