Jack Grealish has revealed that he and Phil Foden watched a video of Lionel Messi's best passes before scoring a goal that the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner would have been proud of in the win over Peterborough on Tuesday.
Manchester City advanced past the spirited Championship side with a 2-0 victory but it wasn't until the 60th minute did they manage to break the deadlock. It was Riyad Mahrez who finally ended the home side's resolve as he curled a shot into the far bottom corner from a tight angle.
A few minutes later Pep Guardiola's side secured their spot in the quarter-finals with a moment of magic. Foden picked up the ball just inside the attacking half, spied the run of Grealish and played a magnificent ball over the top to him.
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Grealish took the ball in his stride before calmly slotting home to finish off the excellent move on his return to the starting XI following injury. The playmaker has now revealed that Paris Saint-Germain star Messi had a small part to play in the goal.
"Yeah it obviously was unbelievable," Grealish told ITV on the quality of Foden's pass. "You know what's funny? "Before the game, we was on the coach on the way here and I sit next to Phil. I was scrolling through Twitter and a video of Messi come up and it was Messi's passing.
"Me and Phil were just watching it then as soon as he passed that ball, obviously I scored, and he came running over to me and whilst we were celebrating he says: 'just like what we was watching before the game!'
"Just like Messi, weren't it? His pass? I have that kind of link-up with Phil, it's been a long time coming because I don't think he's assisted me yet but it was a good moment for myself."
The strike was only Grealish's fourth goal of the season. While goals and assists aren't the be-all and end-all, he does admit that he wants to start increasing his tally.
"Obviously I expect more, you know," he added. "I wanted to get a lot more but I've been speaking with the manager a lot recently and he's been helping me.
"That's what I want to do, get goals and assists but he has said to me it's not all about goals and assists. I've played in a lot of big games this season that the manager's trusted me in that I haven't scored or assisted in and I feel like I've done alright in them. For me, personally, I do want to get more goals and assists, but hopefully that will come now for the big part of the season."
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