Pep lauds O'Reilly's 'big presence' in wake of twin Plymouth strikes | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola paid tribute to the 'big, big presence' of Nico O’Reilly after the teenager’s crucial brace helped inspire City to Saturday’s 3-1 FA Cup fifth-round win against Plymouth.

With the Blues having found ourselves 1-0 down to the Championship visitors late in the first half, the Academy graduate levelled things up just before the break with a fine header.

And O’Reilly then struck again 15 minutes from time to break Plymouth’s resistance with a crucial second strike to fire the hosts ahead before a late Kevin De Bruyne effort sealed victory to send City into Sunday’s quarter-final draw.

Normally a creative attacking midfielder, just as in our previous FA Cup clashes this season, O’Reilly was again entrusted with being deployed at left back and showed his technical and flexible quality.

And reflecting on what was a vital win, the City boss highlighted O’Reilly’s impact and versatility.

“He’s not a typical player from the Academy because they are all small and have big talent but he has a big, big presence,” Pep reflected.

“Sometimes we take a good decision otherwise he would not have scored two goals today.

WATCH: O’Reilly on important Plymouth brace

“Normally he’s an attacking midfielder and runs to the box really well.

“He adapted really well to the full-back role.

“Nico's another threat from set-pieces because we are not a tall team.

“He helps us and played really good with the ball, without the ball.

“Two fantastic goals.”

Pep also paid tribute to the way an Argyle side who had already dispatched Brentford and Liverpool in the FA Cup this season acquitted themselves.

“I don’t take for granted the difficulty when you play an incredibly organised team. I’m not surprised what they did against Liverpool,” Pep stressed.

“It was difficult to challenge them because they are incredibly organised defensively.

“I don’t take for granted how good we have done many, many things. Every step is getting better. Many good things happened.

“Jack [Grealish] played really good. Vitor [Reis] played really good. All of them. Nico. We had a lot of possession with patience because they want to make transitions.

“Really pleased for the performance.

“We have been many years in the quarter-finals and we’ll see the draw tomorrow.”