Grimshaw shines in shoot-out heroics
CITY have reached one cup quarterfinal this week as the Under-19s beat Inter Milan in the UEFA Youth League.
Daniel Grimshaw was the Blues hero – saving four penalties in a shoot-out that saw nine of 14 kicks missed to send City through to a tie against United or Liverpool, who play today.
Simon Davies picked a strong team for the first knock-out round, with four of his starting XI having already appeared for the first team.
However, the Blues started off less than the sum of their parts, with misplaced passes in the final third releasing the pressure on a five-man Inter backline ready to counter.
Such disjointedness was understandable given the personnel – Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz spent Monday night on the bench at Wigan – and it cost the hosts.
A nothing ball was casually played back to Grimshaw, and the City goalkeeper’s attempt to pass it forward cannoned back past him off the onrushing Xian Emmers.
One moment of quality was all it took to level though – Foden found space in the Inter half and threaded the ball perfectly through to Nmecha, who was clipped in the box. The captain for the day got to his feet to convert.
City enjoyed the better of the second half and Rabbi Matondo and Tom Dele-Bashiru both tested Vladan Dekic in the Inter goal, while Luke Bolton provided ample impetus off the bench.
But they could not find a winner, leaving Grimshaw to shine in the City goal.