Manchester City fought back in impressive fashion to claim a 5-2 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The Citizens were heading for a heavy defeat at the Etihad Stadium as the south Londoners raced into a 2-0 lead after just 21 minutes, and could have even been 3-0 ahead within 30 minutes, but for a narrow offside call against Eberechi Eze, a player Manchester City admire.
That disallowed goal seemingly acted as a wakeup call for Pep Guardiola and his players, who quickly made it 2-2 before the 37th minute and then blew Crystal Palace away in the second half.
Despite that second half hammering, Oliver Glasner remained defiant in his post-match interview.
Oliver Glasner warns Pep Guardiola ahead of potential FA Cup final between Manchester City and Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace and Manchester City could soon meet at Wembley if the Eagles defeat Aston Villa and the Citizens can overcome Nottingham Forest in their respective FA Cup semi-finals.
When asked if he thinks he saw enough from his side to beat Manchester City at Wembley, Glasner responded: “Yes. I said to Pep afterwards, if we meet again, you can’t play in this system, because we will solve it.”
Bold words from the Austrian, to say the least.
It was a 4-2-3-1 formation deployed by Guardiola on the day, which saw Nico Gonzalez return to the starting XI and James McAtee named on the right, a system which worked very well once Kevin De Bruyne got Manchester City back into the game.
It was telling that, before the game, Crystal Palace could boast the best defensive away record in the entire Premier League with only 12 goals conceded, so Manchester City netting five should not be downplayed whatsoever.
Oliver Glasner does know how to unpick Pep Guardiola
The man from Salzburg may be yet to beat Guardiola in his three games against the Spaniard so far, but he has often caused problems.
Glasner’s first meeting against the Manchester City boss came at Selhurst Park last season, as a goal from Jean-Philippe Mateta put Crystal Palace 1-0 up, giving the Eagles hope before ultimately suffering a 4-2 defeat.
The second meeting saw Crystal Palace draw 2-2 against the Citizens at Selhurst Park earlier this season, twice taking the lead through Daniel Munoz, who Manchester City want to sign, and Maxence Lacroix.
The third, of course, saw Crystal Palace take a 2-0 lead, so despite going on to lose 5-2 on Saturday, Glasner has certainly proven that he knows how to score goals against Guardiola.
