When Edin Dzeko turned in David Silva’s cross to put the Blues 1-0 up, they became the team to reach a century of goals quickest in the history of English football.
City boss Manuel Pellegrini had been reluctant to speak about the landmark in the build-up to the game but after the feat had been achieved, he was free to reveal his pride in his team’s fantastic goalscoring record.
The Blues weren’t finished on one and proceeded to take their tally to 103 for the season with this 4-2 win over Cardiff at the Etihad Stadium.
“I think it’s very important for the team, it’s not easy to score 100 goals at this stage of the season,” Pellegrini reflected.
“It reflects how we think this team must play – we must be confident in what we are doing.
“We have chances every match to score a lot of goals - in the first 45 minutes I thought it was one of the best halves of football we’ve produced this season.
...Manuel Pellegrini...
“I think we are getting better as the season goes on.
“It’s not easy to change so many things, the way we are playing in these matches is better and better and we must continue in this way.
“Cardiff did a good game, they were well organised and they tried to play. Especially before Yaya scored the third goal, we lost a bit of possession.
“They are a good team with very good players.”
City conceded for the first time in three matches after half an hour and in the final minute, to Craig Noone and Fraser Campbell respectively.
The City boss wasn’t too concerned with the manner of these concessions and stated that he is more interested in scoring goals.
He also added that he doesn’t mind who wins Sunday’s game between Manchester United and Chelsea.
“Maybe the second goal was in the latter stages and we were winning 4-1 – it’s difficult to concentrate for the whole game,” the Chilean said.
“We’re playing a lot of games and I think that today Cardiff didn’t have that many chances to score today.
“We missed five or six clear chances – it’s better not to concede goals but it’s not my first concern.”
...Manuel Pellegrini...
“We have to play 16 more games, so we have a lot of points to fight for, we are not worried about what happens with other teams.
“We want to win because we won, not wanting other teams to lose.
“We are in a good moment – the confidence of the whole squad is high at the moment. In the last month will be under a lot of pressure, and I hope we will continue in this way.
“We are the only team in four competitions – we hope this lasts until the end of February.”
Pellegrini’s Cardiff counterpart Ole Gunnar Solksjaer was proud of him team’s performance and believed that Craig Noone was one of the best players on the pitch.
“We felt that with 15 minutes to go in the first-half, we had the crowd turning a little bit against them,” Solksjaer declared.
“They weren’t sure of the three points – we made them make a few mistakes and it was a great response to the poor start we made.
...Ole Gunnar Solksjaer...
“Noone is a terrific little player – he causes teams problems with his pace. He can go inside and outside, he can use both feet and he got us back in the game with his goal.
“It was probably one of his best performances today. To come here and show courage is what we need.”
CITY v WATFORD: With great family prices for the FA Cup 4th round tie with Watford on 25 January (3pm kick-off), the Blues are expecting another bumper gate for the visit of the Hornets.
Last season, almost 47,000 packed the Etihad Stadium for the FA Cup third round tie with Watford and with kids prices starting at just £1 and adult prices starting at just £15, demand is likely to be high as the Blues look to progress to the last 16 of a competition that has seen City feature in two Wembley finals in the past three seasons.
Don’t miss out – details here.
