JACK Grealish scored his first goal in more than a year and James McAtee hit a second-half hat-trick as Manchester City surged to their biggest win since January 2019 to knock League Two Salford out of the FA Cup.
Grealish converted the 49th-minute spot-kick after he had been fouled, then exchanged a joke with routine penalty-taker Erling Haaland, who was on the bench after manager Pep Guardiola had chosen to leave out a number of big names for the third-round tie.
The England man’s last goal came against Crystal Palace on 16 December 2023, and he has struggled for form since.
Grealish handed over responsibilities to Jeremy Doku when City were awarded another penalty 20 minutes later. The Belgian was also successful, having started what was to turn into a one-sided first meeting between City and a Salford side owned by the famous ‘Class of 92′.
Young striker Divin Mubama scored on his debut when the former West Ham FA Youth Cup winner tapped home Matheus Nunes’ astute low cross, and Nico O’Reilly also scored his first City goal when he sent a low shot into the far corner from Doku’s cut-back.
But McAtee, surprisingly overlooked for long spells of the season by Guardiola despite City’s poor form, soon took centre stage.
The England Under-21 man profited from Doku’s approach work for his first after 62 minutes, and within 19 minutes had claimed the match ball as he was set up by Phil Foden and Grealish.
“I’m so happy for him, he’s a special player,” Guardiola told Match of the Day. “He’s been at City for a long time, a City supporter and he was one of the biggest talents at the academy from the generation of Jadon Sancho, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Liam Delap. He played with these guys and was the captain of them.
“I’m really, really pleased he’s here with us.”
McAtee added: “I’ve been here since I was 10 and it’s a special moment for me. Something I’ll remember forever.”
