Jeremy Doku enjoyed the wide open spaces of the Bernabeu as Manchester City beat Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola praised Jeremy Doku’s performance in Manchester City’s win against Real Madrid and said the winger could break teams if his teammates can consistently get him into dangerous positions. Doku’s final ball wasn’t always perfect for City in the Bernabeu but he threatened Real’s defence on a regular basis and delivered another performance full of confidence.
Guardiola reserved plenty of praise for Doku’s display against the La Liga giants and again said how devastating he can be over the first five yards, explaining that he is at his best when he is given the ball close to the opposition penalty area, while Savinho is a better option when City are carrying the ball forward over long distances.
The Brazilian enjoyed an impressive late cameo against a Real side chasing the game as he revealed he had asked him to copy the kind of impact that Vinicius produces for Madrid. “To dribble. To dribble like Vinicius,” he said when asked what he had told Doku to do.
“He’s a player in the first five metres, I’ve never seen anything like that. He’s improving a lot around the box. In 40 metres, Savinho is better, but if we are able to bring him [Doku] to the end he will kill you. He will give you the capacity of finding some areas. He’s reading the inner passes a lot better. Without him, it would be much more difficult to beat Real Madrid.”
Guardiola was also delighted with Nico O’Reilly’s impact as the left-back scored his first Champions League goal and delivered another performance full of character and stature.
“He’s top. Right now he’s the left-back for England,” said Guardiola. “He have incredible pace, so intelligent, make a mistake but he tried and that is top. Sometimes you make a mistake because you don’t have courage.”
